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^ QUAINT AND HISTORIC 
FORTS OF 
NORTH AMERICA 



BY 



JOHN MARTIN HAMMOND 

AUTHOR OF 
" COLONIAL MANSIONS OF MARYLAND AND DELAWARE " 



WITH SEVENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS 




J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA ^ LONDON 

1915 



L 
.HZ I 



COPYRIGHT. 1915, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



PUBLISHED NOVEMBER. 1915 




PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 



DEC 24 1915 



^C(,A418210 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 
OF NORTH AMERICA 



COLONIAL MANSIONS 

OF MARYLAND AND 

DELAWARE 

BY JOHN MARTIN HAMMOND 

With sixty-five illustrations from original 
photographs. Large octavo. Handsomely 
bound in cloth. Gilt top. In a box. 
A Limited Edition, printed from type 
which has been distributed. $5.00 net. 

The Outtook. N. Y. C. 

"A book of elegance in form, 

illustration, and subject." 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
Publishers Philadelphia 



PREFACE 




f N account of the most famous forti- 
fications of North America is, in 
reahty, a cross section of the miU- 
tary history of the continent; and 
whatever ingenuity there may be 
in this method of presenting the 
conspicuous deeds of valor of the 
American people will, it may be hoped, add interest to 
the following pages. 

So many races of men have wrestled for the North 
American continent in, historically speaking, so brief a 
space of time! We behold the Indian in possession 
though we do not know who was his predecessor in hold- 
ing the land, though the mounds of the Middle West, 
notably Illinois and Arkansas, point to a race of a higher 
culture and more developed knowledge of building than 
the red men had. There come the Spanish with their 
relentless persecutions of the natives. There come the 
English, French, Dutch, Swedish. And the claims of 
each clash, to at length give way — despite the military 
acumen of the French — to the steady, home-building 
genius of the English. 

Of the strongholds which the Spanish built to main- 
tain their title to this part of the world there remain such 
substantial relics as the old fort at St. Augustine, annu- 
ally visited by thousands of people, and that at Pensa- 
cola, Florida. The French are best remembered by their 



PREFACE 



works at Quebec. Of the defensive works of the Dutch, 
on the Hudson, or the Swedes, on the Delaware, noth- 
ing remains The English were not great builders of 
forts; they ./ere essentially tillers of the soil. The most 
important English military work of early Colonial days 
in America was Castle William (Fort Independence), 
Boston harbor. 

To the French with their restless explorers and in- 
defatigable missionaries to the Indians must be ascribed 
the credit of most completely grasping the physical con- 
ditions of the North American continent and of formu- 
lating the most comprehensive scheme for military de- 
fense of their holdings. The French forts extended in a 
well-organized line from the mouth of the Saint Law- 
rence west and south through the Great Lakes and down 
the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. They origi- 
nated and executed, all things considered, the most dar- 
ing and comprehensive military project ever conceived 
on the continent of North America. 

In the preparation of this work it has given me great 
pleasure and has clarified to a marked degree my con- 
ceptions of the larger movements of American history, — 
especially in regard to the topographical considerations 
governing these movements, — to have visited the seats 
of early empire in this country and the various centres 
of military renown in its later days. All of the places 
described in this book are worth a visit by the sight- 
seer as well as the historian — that is, they contain visi- 



PREFACE 



ble monuments of the Past. I have, myself, taken the 
greater number of photographs which illustrate the vol- 
ume. Others have been donated or purchased, as the 
credit lines will tell. 

It is, perhaps, as well to state that this work has 
been done with the knowledge of the War Department 
of the United States, which has very kindly allowed me 
to reproduce some of the pictures in its archives and has 
greatly helped me with my researches in its public 
records. When I have visited those few points of his- 
toric significance still occupied by the army I have been 
very courteously shown all points of interest not of pres- 
ent military value and have been allowed to photograph 
scenes which I desired to record which would have no 
worth to an enemy of the country. 

In carrying forward my work I have freely consulted 
historical authorities, among which I would like especially 
to acknowledge indebtedness to the writings of Francis 
Parkman, who in his many volumes has made the days of 
Old France in the New World a living reality; to John 
Fiske, " New France and New England ; " to Reuben G. 
Thwaites, " France in America; " to various publications 
of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society; to 
Agnes C. Laut, " Canada ;" to William Henry Withrow, 
" Canada; " to Randall Parrish, " Historic Illinois; " to 
the Hon. Peter A. Porter, " Brief History of Old Fort 
Niagara;" to Benson John Lossing, "Pictorial Field 
Book of the Revolution;" to E. G. Bom-ne, " Spain in 



PREFACE 



America;" to Charles B. Reynolds, "Old St. Augus- 
tine;" to Loyall Farragut, " David Glasgow Farragut;" 
and to various books of travel and reminiscence, among 
which I would like to mention : S. A. Drake, " Nooks and 
Corners of the New England Coast " and " The Pine 
Tree Coast;" George Champlin INIason, " Reminiscences 
of Newport;" Irene A. Wright, "Cuba;" A. Hyatt 
Verrill, "Cuba;" Helen Throop Purdy, "San Fran- 
cisco;" Ernest Peixotto, " Romantic California;" Ade- 
laide Wilson, " Savannah, Picturesque and Beautiful;" 
Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel, " Charleston, the Place and 
the People;" and I have received valuable help in ma- 
terial and suggestions from various State historical 
societies, which have been uniformly courteous and de- 
sirous to be of service. 

I wish to express gratitude to various friends and 
individuals who have helped me with suggestions or 
photographs, among whom I may mention Messrs. 
Henry P. Baily, Lloyd Norris, William H. Castle, 
Edward P. Crummer, Maurice T. Fleisher, James 
Prescott JNIartin, Edward H. Smith, and Harold 
Donaldson Eberlein. 

September, 1915. J. M. H. 



CONTENTS 



c 



PAGE 

Strongholds of the Past 1 

Fort Independence (Castle William), Castle Island, 

Boston Harbor 25 

Fort Columbus, or Jay, Governor's Island, New York 

Harbor 36 

Ticonderoga, Lake Champlain, New York 49 

Crown Point, Lake Champlain, New York 66 

The Heights of Quebec (The Citadel, Castle St. Louis), 

Canada 72 

Fort Annapolis Royal, Annapolis, Annapolis Basin, 

Nova Scotia 84 

The Citadel at Halifax, Nova Scotia 93 

Fort George, Castine, Maine 98 

Fort Frederick, Pemaquid, Maine 105 

Fort Niagara, at Mouth of Niagara River, New York. 113 

Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York 122 

Fort Michillimackinac and Fort Holmes, Mackinac 

Island, Michigan 131 

Fort Massac, on the Ohio, near Metropolis, Illinois. , 141 
West Point, Its Environs, and Stony Point, New York. 147 
Fort Constitution (Fort William and Mary), Great 

Island, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire 161 

Forts Trumbull and Griswold, New London and Groton, 

ON the Thames, Connecticut 167 

Fort Mifflin, on the Delaware, Philadelphia 173 

Fort McHenry, Baltimore 180 

Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida 190 

La Fuerza, Morro Castle, and Other Defences, Havana, 

Cuba 201 

ix 



CONTENTS 



Fort San Carlos de Barrancas, Pensacola Bay, Florida 207 
The Presidio of San Francisco, Golden Gate, California 215 
Fort Adams and Newport's Defensive Ruins, Newport, 

Rhode Island 222 

Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Virginia 232 

Forts Sumter and Moultrie, near Charleston, South 

Carolina 241 

Fort Pulaski, at Mouth of Savannah River, Georgia .... 251 

Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama 257 

Forts Jackson and St. Philip, at Mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana 263 

Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, Minnesota 268 

Fort Laramie, at the Forks of the Platte River, 

Wyoming 273 

The Alamo and Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. 279 
Other Western Forts: fort phil kearney, Nebraska; 
fort leavenworth, kansas; fort fetterman, wyo- 
ming; fort bridger, wyoming; fort keogh, montana; 

fort douglas, utah 285 

Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, Washington . . 290 
Fort Yuma, at Head of Navigation, Colorado River, 

California 295 

Valley Forge — Yorktown — Vicksburg — ^Lookout Moun- 
tain — Gettysburg — The "Crater" 299 

Index 305 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Ancient Watch-tower of Fort Marion, St. Augustine, 

Florida Frontispiece ^ 

(By courtesy of the St. Augustine Historical Society) 

Mighty Louisburg To-day, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia: 

To Sea from the Ruined Walls 2 

All That Remains Standing 2 

Water-front of Present-day Detroit 16 --^ 

Where Indian Canoes and the Palisades of the French 
Were. 

Old Block-house, Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh, Pa 18 - 

(From a Painting in the Collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society) 

Fort Independence from the Water, Boston, Mass 26 ^^ 

Floating Hospital in Foreground 

Fort Independence, Castle Island, Boston, Mass.: 

Fort Winthrop from Castle Island 30 " 

Main Entrance, Fort Independence 30 '^ 

Harbor Side, Fort Independence, Boston, Mass 34 - 

Entrance to Fort Columbus (Fort Jay), Governor's Island, 

New York Harbor 36_ 

Fort Sites in Present-day New York City : 

Fort Washington Point. Fort Lee on Opposite Shore. . 38 ^ 

Where Was Fort Amsterdam; the Customs House 38^ 

Fort Lafayette, from Fort Hamilton, New York 45 -^ 

Fort Ticonderoga, Lake Champlain, New York 51 — 

Interior Views of Fort Ticonderoga, N. Y. : 

The Mess Hall 62 - 

A Council Room 62 ^ 

Crown Point, N. Y., in Dead of Winter: 

Where the Flag Flew 66 ' 

The Ruined Barracks 66 "^ 

The Heights of Quebec 72 -^ 

(By courtesy of Detroit Publishing Company) 
Guns, Parade and Ancient Officers' Quarters, Fort Annapolis 

Royal, N. S 84'' 

(By courtesy of The Boston Times) 
xi 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



View from Citadel Hill, Halifax, N. S 94 >^ 

Old Martello Tower, near Halifax, N. S 96 ^ 

Fort Niagara, on Niagara River, N. Y 114 -^ 

The South View of Oswego on Lake Ontario 122 ^ 

(From William Smith's View of the Province of New York, London Edition, 1757) 

Fort Michillimackinac and State Park, Mackinac Island, 

Michigan 137 / 

Old Block-house and Mission Point, Fort Michillimackinac , 

Reservation, Mackinac Island, Michigan 139 

Fort Massac, on the Ohio (La Belle Riviere) : 

Memorial Monument, Erected by Illinois Daughters 

American Revolution 142 " 

From the River 142-^ 

Entrance to Fort Putnam, West Point, N. Y., in Winter. . . 148^ 
Showing Tower of New Academy Chapel in Middle 
Distance 

Sketch Snap-shots of West Point's Historic Memorials : 

Fort Putnam's Rocky Interior 152'' 

Kosciuszko Monument 152 - 

The North Wall, "Old Put" 152^ 

Fort Constitution (Castle William and Mary), Great Island, 

near Portsmouth, N. H 162-' 

A Distant View of Fort Constitution 165 -^ 

Historic Points on the Thames River, Conn. : 

Fort Griswold, Groton 168 -^ 

Fort Trumbull, New London 168 '^ 

Entrance to Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia 174 / 

The Moat in Winter, Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia 178 ^ 

Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Md. : 

A View from an Aeroplane 180 " 

The Guard-house 180 

Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Md,: 

Looking Toward the Lazaretto 182 

One of the Old Batteries in Place 182 ^ 

Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Md. : 

From This Point the Star Spangled Banner Flew 187 

The Entrance 187 ^ 

xii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Col. George Armistead 188 

In Command of Fort McHenry During the Siege 

Moat and Entrance, Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Fla 190 

(By courtesy of the St. Augustine Historical Society) 

Incline Leading to Ramparts, Fort Marion, St. Augustine, 

Fla 196 

(By courtesy of the St. Augustine Historical Society) 

Morro Castle, Havana, Cuba 203 

Fort San Carlos de Barrancas, near Pensacola, Florida 209 

(By courtesy of the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce) 

Fort Scott and the Golden Gate, Presidio Reservation, San 

Francisco, Cal 216 

(By courtesy of R. J. Waters & Co.) 

Lime Rock Light-house, Newport Harbor, Looking Toward 

Fort Adams 222 

Glimpses of Newport's Historic Defences : 

Parade, Old Fort Adams 225 

Present-day Aspect of Fort Greene 225 

Panorama of Newport Harbor, R. I., Showing Fort Adams at 

Left Middle Distance 230 

Goat Island in Central Distance. 
Fort Dumplings, Conanicut Island, a Revolutionary Relic 

Near Newport 231 

From the Ramparts of Fort Monroe, Looking Toward Hamp- 
ton Roads 232 

Taken During the Jamestown Celebration by the United 
States War Department and Reproduced by Special 
Permission. 
Garden View of One of Monroe's Ante-bellum Residences . . 234 

Fire!!! 236 

Showing Shells Just Leaving Mortars, Fort Monroe, Va. 
This Remarkable Photograph Was Taken with 
Modern High Speed Apparatus by the Corps of En- 
listed Specialists Stationed at This Post. 
(By courtesy of the War Department) 

Casemates of Fort Monroe, as They Were During the Civil 

War 239 

Fort Sumter, a Pile of Stone on a Sandy Shoal 242 

xiii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Deserted Casemates of Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Ga. 253 y 

Scenes of Desolation at Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Ga. : 

Parade and Ramparts 256 

The Battered Eastern Salient 256^ 

Old Stone Tower at Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, Minn 268^ > 

Ruins of the Alamo in 1845 280 ^''^ 

From a Sketch Upon Map of the Country in the Vicinity 

of San Antonio de Bexar Made by J. Edmund Blake, 

1st Lieutenant Topographical Engineers, 'J. S. A. 
(By courtesy of the War Department) 

Fort Keogh, near Miles City, Montana 289 ^ 

Fort Yuma, California 296 -^ 

(By courtesy of the War Department) 

Scenes at Valley Forge, Pa. : 

National Memorial Arch 300 

Washington's Headquarters 300 ^ 

Two Views To-day of the " Crater, " Petersburg, Va. : 

The Slaughter Hollow 302 

The Entrance to the Tunnel 302 -^ 



06 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 
OF NORTH AMERICA 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



for almost half a century, did not establish boundaries 
between the two countries and the contest to determine 
the question was unceasing, though not officially recog- 
nized. France busied herself in building fortifications 
and was ready frequently to formally draw the sword; 
yet it needed the outbreak of the War of The Austrian 
Succession in 1744, in far distant Europe, to precipi- 
tate the American quarrel. 

The news of the beginning of this conflict came to 
Duquesnel, commandant of Louisburg, before it reached 
the English colonies, however, and it seemed to him an 
essentially proper thing to do to strike against the 
English. He accordingly sent out an expedition against 
the English fishing village of Canseau, at the southern 
end of the Strait of Canseau, which separates Cape 
Breton Island from the peninsula of Acadia. With a 
wooden redoubt defended by eighty Englishmen antici- 
pating no danger, Canseau offered no great resistance 
and was easily taken, its inhabitants sent to Boston, and 
its houses burned to the ground. The next blow was an 
unsuccessful expedition against Annapolis Royal. By 
these two valueless strokes Duquesnel warned New Eng- 
land that New France was on the aggressive. 

Enraged by the attacks upon Canseau and Annap- 
olis and with the easy self-confidence which is a heritage 
of the children of the hardy north Atlantic coast, the 
people of Massachusetts were prepared for the sugges- 
tion of William Vaughan, of Damariscotta, that with 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 




HE tourist on the coast of Cape 
Breton Island, Nova Scotia — 
for in summer hundreds of peo- 
ple seek out this pleasant land 
for its cheerful climate — may 
come upon a little bay on the 
easternmost verge of the land 
where is a deep land-locked inlet protected from ele- 
mental fuiy by a long rocky arm thrust out from the 
shore into the sea. He will not be able to surmise from 
the present aspect of his surroundings that this was the 
site of mighty Louisburg, the greatest artificial strong- 
hold (Quebec being largely a work of nature) that the 
French ever had in the New World. Of this massive 
and menacing fortress, which cost thirty million livres 
and twenty-five years of toil to build after the designs 
of the great Vauban, hardly one stone lies placed upon 
another and grass and rubble have taken the place of the 
heavy walls. Standing on the ground where New 
France's greatest leaders stood it is difficult to-day to 
picture the martial pomp which once must have claimed 
this spot, to visualize, more particularly, the setting for 
the farcical onslaught of the zealous New Englanders 
of 1744, under the doughty Pepperell, in their greatest 
single military exploit. 

The Treat}^ of Utrecht, which provided a basis of 
agreement for France and England in the New World 

1 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



their untrained militia they should attack New France's 
mightiest stronghold. Vaughan found a willing listener 
in the governor, William Shirley, who helped the enter- 
prise on its way. 

The originator of this astounding project was born 
at Portsmouth, in 1703, and was a graduate of Harvard 
College nineteen years thereafter. His father had been 
lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire. Soon after 
leaving college Vaughan had betrayed an adventurous 
disposition by establishing a fishing-station on the island 
of Matinicus off the coast of Maine. Afterward he 
became the owner of most of the land on the little river 
Damariscotta where he built a little wooden fort, estab- 
lished a considerable settlement and built up an exten- 
sive trade in fish and timber. Governor Shirley was an 
English barrister who had come to Massachusetts in 1731 
to practise his profession and who had been raised by 
his own native gifts to the position of highest eminence 
in the colony. 

On the 9th of January, 1745, the General Court of 
Massachusetts received a message from the governor 
that he had a communication to make to them so critical 
that he must swear all of the members to secrecy. Then 
to their astonishment he proposed that they undertake 
the reduction of Louisburg. They listened with respect 
to the governor's suggestion and appointed a committee 
of two to consider the matter. The committee's report, 

3 



gUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



made in the course of several days, was unfavorable and 
so was the vote of the court. 

Meanwhile intelligence of Governor Shirley's pro- 
posal had leaked out despite the pledge of secrecy. It 
is said that a country member of the court more pious 
than discreet was overheard praying long and fervently 
for Divine guidance in the matter. The news flew 
through the province and public pressure compelled a 
reconsideration of the project. It was urged against 
the plan that raw militia were no match for disciplined 
troops behind ramparts, that the expense would be 
staggering and that the credit of the colony was already 
overstrained. The matter was put to a vote and car- 
ried by a single vote. This result is said to have been 
due to one of the opposition falling and breaking his 
leg while hurrying to the council. 

The die was now cast and hesitation vanished. 
Shirley wrote to all of the colonies as far south as Penn- 
sylvania, but of these only four responded : Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 
which blazed with holy zeal as, since the enterprise 
would be directed against Roman Catholics, it was sup- 
posed that heaven would in a peculiar manner favor it. 
There were prayers in churches and families. New 
Hampshire provided 500 men, of which number Massa- 
chusetts was to pay and provide for 150; Rhode Island 
voted a sloop carrying fourteen cannon and twelve 
swivels; Connecticut promised 516 men and officers pro- 

4 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



vided that Roger Wolcott should have second rank in 
the expedition; and Massachusetts was to provide 3000 
men and the commanding officer. 

This last condition was one of the hardest to fulfil, 
for, as Governor Wanton of Rhode Island wrote, there 
was not in New England " one officer of experience nor 
even an engineer." The choice fell upon William 
Pepperell, of Kittery, Maine (then a part of Massa- 
chusetts), who though a prosperous trader had had little 
experience to fit him for commanding an attack upon 
a great fortress. Pepperell's home is still standing at 
Kittery and is a substantial structure as befitted its 
affluent master. 

There was staying at Pepperell's house at this time 
the preacher Whitefield. Pepperell asked his guest 
for a motto for the expedition. "Nil Desperandum 
Christo Duce '* was suggested ; and this being adopted 
gave to the expedition the air of a crusade. 

A novel plan was suggested, among others, to Pep- 
perell by one of the zealots of New England. Two 
trustworthy men, according to this plan, were to be sent 
out at night before the French ramparts, one of them 
carrying a wooden mallet with which he was to beat 
upon the ground. The other was to place his ear to the 
ground and wherever a concealed mine would give back 
a hollow sound was to make a cross mark with chalk so 
that the New England boys would know where not to 
walk when they attacked the fort. The French sentry 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



meanwhile, it was supposed, would be too confused by 
the unusual noise of the thumping to take any action. 

Within seven weeks after Shirley issued his procla- 
mation preparations for the expedition were complete. 
The force, all told, numbered about four thousand men. 
Transports were easily obtained in the harbor of Boston 
or in the towns adjoining. There was a lack of cannon 
of large calibre, but it was known that the French pos- 
sessed cannon of large calibre, so cannon balls and sup- 
plies to fit such guns were carried along, it being foreseen 
that the army would capture sufficient of the French can- 
non to supply its needs. Of other supplies there was a 
sufficiency and, to overbalance the lack of any military 
training whatever in the officers, Governor Shirley had 
written a long list of instructions for the siege. These 
instructions, after going into such minute directions as 
how to make fast the windows of the Governor's apart- 
ment at Louisburg, and outlining a complex series of 
military manoeuvres to be undertaken after dark by men 
who had no idea of the country they would be in, ended 
with the words, " Notwithstanding the instructions you 
have received from me I must leave you to act, upon 
unforeseen emergencies, according to your best discre- 
tion." 

On Friday, April 5, 1745, the first of the transports 
arrived at Canseau, the rendezvous, about sixty miles 
from Louisburg, and this little post which had now a 
small French garrison changed hands again. Captain 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



Ammi Cutter was put in command with sixty-eight men. 
On Sunday there was a great open-air concourse at which 
Parson Moody preached on the text " Thy people shall 
be willing in the day of Thy power." Parson Moody's 
sermon was disturbed by the drilling of an awkward 
squad whose men were learning how to handle a musket. 

For three weeks the expedition lay at Canseau wait- 
ing for the ice to clear from the northern waters, and 
then, on the morning of the 29th, it set out expecting to 
make Louisburg by nine o'clock that evening and to 
take the French by surprise as Shirley had directed. 
The French, of course, had been aware all the time of 
the location of the enemy and had even had intelligence 
from Boston when the affair was first bruited about. A 
lull in the wind caused a change in the plan of taking 
the French by surprise and it was not until the keen 
light of the following morning that the New Englanders 
saw Louisburg, no very great sight at that, as the build- 
ings of the town were almost completely hid behind the 
massive walls which encircled them. 

And now how were matters going on inside the 
mighty walls? Badly, it must be admitted. The garrison 
consisted of five hundred and sixty regulars, of whom 
several companies were Swiss, and of about fourteen hun- 
dred militia. The regulars were in bad condition and 
had, indeed, the preceding Christmas, broken into mu- 
tiny because of exasperation with bad rations and with 
having been given no extra pay for work on the f ortifica- 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



tions. Some of the officers had lost all confidence in their 
men and the commandant, Chevalier Duchambon, suc- 
cessor to Duquesnel, was a man of hesitant and capri- 
cious mind. It is thus to be seen that the fortress was 
fatally weak within though in material circumstances it 
was the strongest on the North American continent. 

The landing of the provincial forces was accom- 
plished creditably about three miles below the fortifica- 
tions. Vaughan then led about four hundred men to the 
town and saluted it with three cheers, much to the dis- 
comfiture of the garrison, which was entirely unused to 
this kind of warfare. He then marched unresisted to the 
northeast arm of the harbor where there were magazines 
of naval stores. These his men set on fire and he the 
next day set about returning to the main force. 

The strongest outlying work of Louisburg was the 
Grand Battery more than a mile from the town. As 
Vaughan came near this work he observed therein no 
signs of life. One of Vaughan's party was a Cape Cod 
Indian. This red man was bribed by a flask of brandy 
which Vaughan had in his pocket to undertake a recon- 
noissance, which he carried through in a unique fashion. 
Pretending to be drunk, and waving his flask around his 
head, the Indian staggered toward the battery. There 
was still no life. The Indian entered through an em- 
brasure and found the place empty. Vaughan took 
possession and an eighteen-year-old drummer boy 
climbed the flagstaff and fastened thereon a red shirt as a 



. STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



substitute for the British ensign. Thus also did the 
Massachusetts men acquire the cannon for which they 
had been hoping. 

It is difficult to understand how it was that the 
Grand Battery was deserted. " A detachment of the 
enemy advanced to the neighborhood of the Royal Bat- 
tery," writes the Habitant de Louisburg in his invalu- 
able narrative retailed by Parkman. " At once we were 
all seized with fright and on the instant it was proposed 
to abandon this magnificent battery which would have 
been our best defence, if one had known how to use it. 
Various councils were held in a tumultuous way. It 
would be hard to tell the reasons for such a strange pro- 
ceeding. Not one shot had been fired at the battery, 
which the enemy could not take except by making regu- 
lar approaches as if against the town itself, and by be- 
sieging it, so to speak, in form. Some persons remon- 
strated, but in vain ; and so a battery which had cost the 
King immense sums was abandoned before it was at- 
tacked." 

The battery contained twenty-eight forty-two 
pounder cannon and two eighteen-pounders. Several 
of these guns were opened upon the town the next morn- 
ing, " which," wrote a soldier of New England in his 
diary, " damaged the houses and made the women cry." 

In this good-natured fashion did the whole siege 
progress. It is hardly possible to write about the in- 
formal procedure in an orderly fashion. Accomplishing 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



incredible tasks in fashions opposed to all of the laws of 
warfare the New Englanders went on with only rudi- 
mentary observance of discipline under their merchant 
commander. While the cannon boomed in front the 
men behind the lines wrestled, and ran races, and fired 
at targets, though ammunition was short, and chased 
French cannon balls for exercise, bringing back the can- 
non balls to be used in the guns. Some of the men went 
fishing about two miles away. Now and then some of the 
fishermen lost their scalps to Indians who prowled about 
the camps of the besiegers. 

At last the impossible happened. Discouraged by 
humiliating failures and badly, though not fatally, bat- 
tered, mighty Louisburg surrendered. The strongest 
work of man in the New World had fallen to ignorant 
New England fishermen! The soldiers of France re- 
ceived the ridicule of the whole Old World and an effort 
was made from Versailles to recover the point lost, but 
unsuccessfully. 

Louisburg was restored to the French Crown in 1748 
by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was to fall again 
to English arms in the Seven Years War, which ended 
with the complete extinction of French power in the 
New World; but with the account of this siege, which 
was conducted painfully and formally in accord with the 
rules of war, we need have no concern. The great 
fortress was then destroyed block by block and Time has 
continued the work of demolition which the English 
began. 

10 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



While Louisburg and Quebec were great eastern 
strongholds of the French in America, their centre of 
power in the far west was Fort Chartres on the Missis- 
sippi River, at the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, Illi- 
nois. Here they held gay sway over a wilderness empire 
that included many Indian tribes and extended over 
thousands of miles. 

The first Fort Chartres was commenced in 1718 when 
Lieutenant Pierre Dugue de Boisbriant, a Canadian 
holding a French commission, accompanied by several 
officers and a large body of troops, arrived at Kaskaskia 
by boat from New Orleans. A site was selected about 
eighteen miles north of that little village and by the 
spring of 1720 the fort was substantially completed. 
It was a stockade of wood strengthened with earth be- 
tween the palisades. Within the enclosure were the 
commandant's house, a barracks, a store-house and a 
blacksmith shop, all constructed of hand-sawed lumber. 

Almost immediately a village of Indians and traders 
sprang up around the place and the enterprising Jesuits 
built a church, St. Anne de Chartres, where many a 
service was recited for motley congregations of red and 
white. For thirty-six years this first Fort Chartres 
flourished and during this time was the setting for 
dramatic and pregnant happenings. Here, in 1720, 
came Phillippe Francois de Renault, bringing with him 
five hundred San Domingo negroes into the wilderness, 
thus introducing negro slavery into Illinois. In 1721 

11 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the post was visited by the famous Father Xavier de 
Charlevoix, in whose train was a young Canadian officer, 
Louis St. Ange de Belle Rive, who was destined after- 
ward to be the commandant of the fort. Under the ad- 
ministration of the Sieur de Liette, 1725-1730, a cap- 
tain in the Royal army, the French forces were engaged 
in armed pacification of the Fox Indians. Belle Rive 
succeeded de Liette and under his sway the post became 
the scene of social gayety. 

In 1736 there left Fort Chartres a disastrous expedi- 
tion against the Chickasaw Indians on the far distant 
Arkansas River. The result of this expedition was a 
defeat in which D'Artaguette, the leader, de Vincennes, 
for whom the little town of Vincennes, Indiana, is 
named, Father Senat, a Jesuit, and about fifteen other 
Frenchmen were taken prisoners and held for ransom. 
The ransom not arriving, the prisoners were roasted at 
a slow fire by their savage captors. A second expedition 
against the Chickasaws in 1739 was somewhat more suc- 
cessful. 

By 1751 the fort was much out of repair and in this 
year there came to command it a French major of en- 
gineers (Irish by descent) Chevalier Macarty, who was 
accompanied by nearly a full regiment of grenadiers. 
In 1753 the second Fort Chartres, a solid structure of 
stone and one of the strongest fortifications ever erected 
on the American continent, was commenced by Macarty 
and his men. In 1756 it was finished. The site chosen 

12 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



was about a mile above the old fort and about half a 
mile back from the Mississippi River and would seem to 
have been a strange selection for such a structure, as it 
was low and marshy. 

Of the first Fort Chartres not a sign remains to-day, 
and its exact site is a matter of disagreement. Of the 
second Fort Chartres the old powder magazine is to be 
seen. The fort itself has succumbed to the encroach- 
ments of the river, which cut away its bank even so far 
back as to undermine the walls of the fort itself and, 
in 1772, to cause the desertion of the structure by its 
garrison. The quarry from which the limestone of which 
the walls were constructed was obtained was located in 
the great bluif s four miles east of the point. The finer 
stone with which the arches and ornamental parts were 
faced came from beyond the Mississippi. 

The fort covered altogether about four acres and 
was capable of sheltering a garrison of three hundred 
men. The expense of its erection was one million dol- 
lars, a sum of money only equalled in those days by the 
expenditure for the fortifications of Louisburg, Quebec, 
and Crown Point. It is generally believed that large 
profits went to the conmiandant and to others interested 
in its construction. 

The command of the point in 1760 passed from 
Macarty to Nenon de Villiers, who led the French and 
Indians against Washington at Great Meadows in the 
skirmish which virtually was the opening engagement of 

13 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the French and Indian War, a part of his force on this 
occasion being drawn from the garrison of Fort 
Chartres. 

The veteran St. Ange de Belle Rive, stationed at 
Vincennes, took charge of the fort in 1764 and had the 
melancholy distinction of surrendering it to the English, 
October 10, 1765, when Captain Thomas Stirling came 
from Fort Pitt with one hundred Highlanders of the 
42d British regiment, — a fitting distinction when one re- 
members that St. Ange had been in command of the 
first fort shortly after its establishment, and when there 
was no rival to French power in all of the West. 

A predecessor of Fort Chartres in making sure 
French dominion of the West was Fort St. Louis, on 
Starved Rock, on the Illinois River, about forty miles 
southwest of Chicago of to-day and not far distant from 
the present-day city of Ottawa, Illinois. Of Fort St. 
Louis there remains not a trace, but to its existence and 
to La Salle, its intrepid founder, there will for centuries 
be a natural monument — that great towering crag upon 
whose flat summit the stronghold was built. 

A natural phenomenon of great geologic interest, 
Starved Rock rises directly from a level river plain. Its 
sides are as steep as castle wall and attain a height of 
one hundred feet and more. The river washes its western 
base and its summit overhangs the stream so that water 
can be drawn therefrom by means of a bucket and a 
cord. On three sides the pinnacle of the rock is inaccess- 

14 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



ible and the fourth side might be held by a handful of 
men against an army. The top of the cliff measures 
about two hundred feet in diameter and is flat. 

On this ideal site, in 1682, the French built Fort St. 
Louis. In less than three months fourteen thousand 
Indians lay encamped on the plains of the river within 
sound of the guns of the fort. To-day the point is a 
pleasure park. 

From Fort St. Louis many an exploring expedition 
pushed forth into the wilderness and here many a treaty 
was concluded with savage tribes. While frequently 
obliged to give up command temporarily Henry de 
Tonti, La Salle's very faithful lieutenant, was supreme 
at Fort St. Louis practically from its foundation until 
its abandonment in 1702. In 1718 a number of French 
traders were making it their headquarters, but its mili- 
tary history ceased with Tonti's de^Darture. 

A predecessor even of Fort St. Louis was Fort 
Crevecoeur — Fort of the Broken Heart — which wore 
its poetic name for only a few months after its construc- 
tion in 1680, by La Salle, on the east shore of the Illinois 
River, not far below Peoria Lake. Fort Crevecoeur 
was destroyed by mutineers during the absence of its 
commander, Tonti, and was not rebuilt. Fort St. Louis 
succeeding to its mission. The exact site to-day is a 
matter of dispute. 

Fort Crevecoeur was the fourth in La Salle's com- 
prehensive scheme of a chain of fortifications to extend 

15 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



from Quebec, the centre of French power, up the St. 
Lawrence, through the Great Lakes, across the portage 
country which lay between the western lakes and the 
headwaters of the navigable tributaries of the Missis- 
sippi and then down the Mississippi to its mouth, thus 
hemming in the English to their coast possessions east 
of the Appalachian range, and ensuring the vast major 
part of the American continent to the French. The 
other three of La Salle's fortifications at this date were 
Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Fort 
Niagara, commanding the passage from Lake Ontario 
to Lake Erie, and Detroit, commanding the passage 
from Erie to Michigan. 

The foundation of the city of Detroit thus needs no 
further pointing out. Where La Salle's tentative forti- 
fications were the city now presents a busy water-front, 
with steamers and factories and great buildings where 
Indian canoes and the palisades of the French once 
were. 

Developments of this plan of La Salle's, which was 
adhered to tenaciously by the French for almost a cen- 
tury, until they fell before the slow-growing mass of the 
English, were Michillimackinac and a chain of posts 
along the Ohio River. Of this Ohio series the most 
important element was the much fought over Fort 
Duquesne — the objective of Braddock's fateful march 
— later Fort Pitt, and now the city of Pittsburgh. 

The visitor to Pittsburgh to-day will find on Fourth 

16 




It. 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



street, midway between the Monongahela and Allegheny 
Rivers, a little block-house, more correctly a redoubt, 
sixteen by fifteen feet in lateral dimensions and twenty- 
two feet high. The structure is constructed of brick 
covered with clapboards and with a layer of double 
logs, and contains thirty-six port-holes in two layers. 
This little block-house is all that remains to-day of Fort 
Pitt. It was built by Colonel Boquet in 1764 and was ^^yfnfif~ 
purchased by private parties in the early days of Pitts- 
burgh. In 1894 the property was deeded by its owner of 
that generation, Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, of London, to 
the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Daughters of the 
American Revolution, and is maintained by this organi- 
zation to-day for the benefit of the public. 

The situation of Fort Pitt and its predecessor, Fort 
Duquesne, was of immense strategic importance in the 
early days of the American nation, the considerations 
which gave it value having operated in the field of com- 
merce in late years to make Pittsburgh notable as a 
manufacturing and distributing centre. It stood at the 
gateway to the Ohio River and the rich country which 
the Ohio waters, and since it commanded the Ohio it 
commanded the key to the West. 

These considerations were appreciated by the Colo- 
nial Virginians, and in 1754 Captain William Trent was 
commissioned by Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, to 
erect a fort at the juncture of the Monongahela and the 
Allegheny Rivers at the expense of the Ohio Company. 

2 17 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Captain Trent commenced his work in February, 1754, 
but in April, 1754, surrendered to a detachment of 
French under Le Mercier. 

The French then commenced the erection of a fort of 
their own on the extreme neck of land between the rivers. 
They finished their work in the summer of that year and 
named it Fort Duquesne in honor of Governor-General 
Duquesne, of Canada. 

In the same year a force of English colonists, about 
150 strong, made a tentative advance against the work 
under the leadership of our own George Washington, 
then a young man. Washington found the post too 
strong for attack and became himself the object of hos- 
tile attention from the French, being forced to fall back 
to Great Meadows and to erect a temporary triangular 
earth fortification there which he named Fort Necessity. 

In 1755 it was the plan of the British ministry to 
concentrate its forces in the colonies in three directions 
of attack against the French. One blow was to be 
struck at Acadia; a second blow was to be struck at 
Crown Point, and a third, under General Braddock, an 
English-born officer of wide Continental experience, at 
Fort Duquesne. 

Braddock's unfortunate march began May 27, 1755, 
from Fort Cumberland, Maryland (Cumberland, to- 
day), and of the details of that disastrous journey little 
need be told in these pages as the story is already famil- 
iar. Braddock had the bravery of his calling and the 

18 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



arrogance and presumption of the European brought 
into contact with provincials. He did not beheve that 
anything very good could come out of the colonies and 
did not hesitate to show this attitude of mind. On the 
line of march he scorned to send out scouts ahead as was 
necessary in fighting Indians. He insisted on sending 
his Continental troops in solid order against an enemy 
who fought behind trees and stumps in any kind of 
order that suited his purpose. He committed all of the 
stupidities that vanity and overweening self-confidence 
could dictate, and, when the French in a despairing last- 
minute effort against overwhelming numbers had found 
easy victory, gave up his life on the field of battle. He 
was buried beneath the feet of the retreating troops so 
that their steps should obliterate from the fiendish enemy 
the location of his last resting place. 

The English loss in this battle was 714 men killed 
and a shattering of their military prestige with all of the 
Indian people of the borderland. The French loss was 
3 white men killed and 27 Indians. The access to their 
influence amongst the savage tribes because of their 
unexpected victory was much. 

Fort Duquesne fell to the English in 1758 when 
7,000 men under Brigadier General John Forbes slowly 
and circumspectly proceeded against it. The French 
deserted the post after attempting to destroy it and the 
English took possession November 25 of that year. A 
new fort was commenced under Forbes which stood on 

19 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the ^lonongahela side of the city at the south end of the 
present West Street and between West and Liberty 
Streets. It was occupied in 1760 and was completely 
finished in the summer of 1761. The stone bomb-proof 
magazine stood until 1852 when the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road built its freight terminal here. 

Of the remainder of the line of French forts along 
the Ohio River there are no relics left, though memorials 
have been established at several points. The first of 
this Ohio River chain was Presque Isle on Lake Erie, 
now the little city of Erie, Pennsylvania. For some 
years after French domain in the New World Presque 
Isle was of importance and, indeed, for some years after 
the Revolution. 

The post was taken by the English in 1759, and in 
1763 fell a victim to Indian attack as a corollary to the 
Pontiac conspiracy which had as its object the complete 
extinction of English life in the West. The fort, a 
rectangle of earth and wooden palisades, stood on the 
west bank of Mill Creek and at the intersection with 
the shore of the lake. Here the veteran Indian fighter, 
General Wayne, died in 1796. In 1876 the State of 
Pennsylvania erected a block-house on the site of the 
old fort as a memorial. This block-house is now in- 
cluded in the grounds of the Pennsylvania Sailors and 
Soldiers' Home. 

From Presque Isle there was a portage to Fort Le 
Boeuf, now the little city of Waterford, Pennsylvania. 

20 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST UpO • 

Fort Le Boeuf stood at High and Water Street^ , >». 
Waterford, though there is at this point no sign of its 4V^ ' 
existence. It was erected in 1753 and fell before^ 
Pontiac's far-reaching conspiracy in 1763. '-^ 

Venango, the next of the French line of forts east 
of Pittsburgh (Duquesne), was the fore-runner of 
Franklin, Pennsylvania, and stood at Elk and Eighth 
Streets. Of Venango, too, no sign remains. It fell to 
the Indians in 1763. 

South of Pittsburgh the English had a post at 
Brownsville, on the Ohio River, Pennsylvania, built in 
1754, and known as Redstone Old Fort. The French 
had Fort Massac to which about one thousand troopers 
retired after the evacuation of Fort Duquesne. Later 
years also saw small fortifications developed on the 
Ohio River, some holding the potentialities of future 
greatness such as that at the falls of the Ohio River, 
which was to be the nucleus of the settlement of the 
present-day city of Louisville, Kentucky. 

At the south end of Lake Erie during the French 
occupancy of the West stood Fort Sandusky which has 
given its name to the City of Sandusky of to-day. On 
the Maumee River, Indiana, was Fort Miamis, Miami 
of to-day. 

In the early days of the French there had been a 
trading post at the site of the future great city of 
Chicago, but it remained for the United States, in 1803, 
to establish a formal fortification here. Fort Dearborn, 

21 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



of bloody memory. Fort Dearborn, as every good 
Chicagoan knows, or ought to know, stood at the south- 
ern approach to the Rush Street bridge and extended a 
Httle across Michigan Avenue and somewhat into the 
river, as it now is. The ground rose into a little mound 
yielding a fine view of the surrounding flat prairie land. 
Here the pioneer soldiers erected a rude stockade of logs 
fifteen feet in height and enclosing a space sufficiently 
large to contain a small parade ground, officers' quarters, 
troop barracks, guard house, magazines and two block- 
houses, one at the northwest and the other at the south- 
east corner of the palisade. This rude structure with 
its small garrison was the seed of the present-day great 
city. 

Upon the outbreak of the War of 1812 General Hull, 
who was commanding the American army of the border, 
ordered the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, as the place 
was too remote to be adequately defended and as its 
possession meant no access of strength to the United 
States. There were at this time in the garrison four 
officers and fifty-fom' non-commissioned officers and 
privates under the leadership of Captain Nathan Heald. 
The wives of the two senior officers were with them and a 
number of the privates had, also, their families, so that 
the stockade contained twelve women and twenty chil- 
dren. ■% 

Though an experienced soldier. Captain Heald 
seems to have misjudged the temper of the hostile 

22 



STRONGHOLDS OF THE PAST 



Indians surrounding his post and to have too easily 
accepted their assurances of non-interference with the 
garrison as it left the fort. At all events, on August 15, 
1812, Captain Heald evacuated his fort, and though the 
Indians allowed the little company — a long cavalcade — 
to proceed as far as the end of present-day Eighteenth 
Street without molestation, they then fell upon men, 
women and children indiscriminately. Of the company 
of Americans only a handful survived. 

In 1816 Fort Dearborn was rebuilt and regarrisoned 
but after the Black Hawk war fell into disuse, and in 
1837 was abandoned by the army. It was used for 
various purposes by different departments of the Fed- 
eral government until 1857, when it was torn down ex- 
cept a small building which stood until the great fire of 
1871. A commercial building now occupies the site 
which is commemorated by a small bronze tablet set into 
the wall by the Chicago Historical Society in 1880. 

At the foot of Eighteenth Street at the point where 
the attack upon the devoted column commenced, a 
beautiful bronze monument has been erected depicting a 
scene from the massacre. 

Fort Gage, Illinois, memorable as the first objective 
of George Rogers Clark in 1778, stood at the historic 
little village Kaskaskia, of French foundation, on the 
Kaskaskia River near the confluence of that stream with 
the Mississippi. In shape an oblong, 280 feet by 251 
feet, constructed of squared timbers founded upon heavy 

23 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



earthwork, Fort Gage was never heavily garrisoned. 
It was the point to which the British retired when the 
crumbling walls of Fort Chartres would no longer hold 
them. In 1772 the garrison consisted of one officer and 
twenty soldiers. In 1778 when Clark reached the spot 
there was not a British soldier on duty and the fort was 
in command of a Frenchman. 

Fort Clark, Illinois, was erected in 1813 on the site 
of the future city of Peoria, Illinois, and about where 
the Rock Island depot now stands. For several years it 
gave its name to the locality and was a post of impor- 
tance garrisoned by rangers and United States troops. 
At one time it sustained a severe Indian attack 

The foundation of Cincinnati, Ohio, was Fort Wash- 
ington, which was in existence until after the War of 
1812. 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 

(CASTLE WILLIAM) 
CASTLE ISLAND— BOSTON HARBOR 




HAT Bostonians are thankful 
people truly appreciating their 
public blessings is amply proved 
by the way in which they turn 
out to Fort Independence, Castle 
Island, now a part of the Marine 
Park of their city, for the fresh 
air and unexciting recreation it offers. Other citizens 
of other cities create parks from their historic places 
and, then, content to know that they have them when 
they want them, allot the day and night watchmen 
entire seclusion in these domains. With Bostonians 
it is different: On any bright and cheering day 
throngs can be found at the old fort, of various classes 
and of widely sundered poles of thought; but joined 
together in one great common heritage, a capacity 
for making use of that which they have and of taking 
their pleasure in a devout and noiseless manner not 
to be seen amongst the habitants of any other great 
American city. 

It is a pleasant place, Castle Island, and the air 
there on a sunny day sweeping in from the great reaches 
of Boston's environing waters is a true elixir. The 
views in various directions are entrancing, showing, in 
one direction, wide expanses of blue with dim islands in 
the distance and cottony clouds overhead; in another, 

25 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the shipping and sky-hne of Boston harbor and the 
jumbled city. Geographically stated, Castle Island is 
a body of hard, rocky land, most of which is occupied by 
the historic old fort, and it is situated three miles from 
the head of Boston Harbor and two hundred yards from 
City Point, South Boston, to which it is connected by a 
wooden causeway. On the mainland, close at hand, lies 
Boston's famous Aquarium, where the frying fishes a 
play I 

Viewed from the head of the causeway, the fort is a 
very gay and martial figure though in sober earnest it 
has never fired a shot in anger in its life. Structurally 
speaking, it is a pentagonal, five-bastioned enclosure 
whose granite walls occupy all of the crest of the emi- 
nence which makes up the island. To the right, from 
this stand-point, one sees running off a long thin shal- 
low strip of gravelly sand, which geologists assert has 
been a gift from the sea since the erection of the fort. 
Originally, they say, the main portion of the island was 
larger than it is now ; so what was taken from one place 
seems to have been added on to another. 

Passing over the causeway one sees to the left hand, 
across a ribbon of water, the island which Fort Win- 
throp crowns in a very modest and inconspicuous fashion. 
Passing over a draw-bridge one enters the reservation 
and finds one's self beneath the shadow of the walls of 
the fort and on the historic ground which its predeces- 
sors and itself have held in fief for many, iiiany years. 

26 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 



Benches may be found here and there for the rest-seek- 
ing wayfarer, but if one is inspired to wander around the 
walls he will find many interesting sights, and will be 
increasingly struck by the strength and formidableness 
of the abandoned military work, highly suggestive of 
the time when this island was the seat of military power 
of his Majesty, the King of England, in his colonies in 
America. 

Historically speaking. Fort Independence is one of 
the oldest fortified spots in America and it was of ex- 
ceeding great dignity in the early days of this country. 
But four years subsequent to the incorporation of the 
town of Boston, an interesting event which took place 
in 1630, Governor Winthrop and a party of his 
Puritans visited the island and, we are told, were de- 
tained by the ice without shelter for a day and a night. 
Nevertheless so well able were they all to detach them- 
selves from their personal petty feelings that they each 
subscribed five pounds sterling of Great Britain from 
their own pockets in order to raise the place to the 
dignity of a fortified point. Two " Platforms " and a 
fort were to be erected, these platforms being in the 
nature of bateaux with guns mounted upon them. In 
the July following their adventure, which had taken 
place in early spring, they induced the legislature to 
consent to fortifying the place. The first fort has been 
described as a " castle with mud walls." The masonry 
was of lime made from oyster shells. 

27 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



In 1644 the arrival of a French man-of-war in the 
harbor of Boston so alarmed the citizens of the province 
that the fort which had gone into decay was rebuilt at 
the expense of six neighboring towns. It was now con- 
structed of pine trees, stone and earth, was 50 feet 
square inside and had walls 10 feet thick. 

In 1665 the fort was repaired and enlarged, — the 
spirit of military preparedness which had been awak- 
ened by the Frenchman's arrival having evidently been 
kept up. A small castle was added with brick walls and 
three stories in height. There was a dwelling-room on 
the first floor of this " castle "; a lodging-room above; a 
gun-room over the latter furnished with " six very good 
saker guns " and three lesser guns were mounted upon 
the roof. In this same year occurred an event which 
gave rise to much curious speculation at the time and is 
retained in legend. On the 15th of July a stroke of 
lightning entered one of the rooms of the fort, killed 
Captain Richard Davenport, the commanding officer, 
and did not enter the magazine, only a step away, 
beyond a thin partition, where there was stored enough 
gunpowder to have blown the fort beyond the seas. 

Still the spirit of fire had its due, for in 1673 the 
fort was burned to the ground. In the year following 
a new fort of stone was erected. It had four bastions, 
mounted thirty-eight guns and sixteen culverins, in 
addition to a water battery of six guns, and was a very 
imposing work indeed. 

28 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 



In 1689 the people of Boston, favoring the Crom- 
welhans in England, seized the royal governor, Edmund 
Andros, and placed him in confinement. They took 
possession of the castle and appointed Mr. John Fair- 
weather commander to succeed Captain John Pipon. 

But all dissension is smoothed down by the hand of 
Time. Under the administration of Sir Williams 
Phipps, an appointee of King Wilham, the fort was 
named Castle William and the Crown donated a large 
sum of money toward the erection of a stronger struct- 
ure. The ordnance then became 24 nine-pounders, 12 
twenty-four pounders, 18 thirty-two pounders, and 18 
forty-eight pounders; and the bastions became known 
by the names of the " Crown," the " Rose," the 
*' Royal," and the " Elizabeth." This augmentation of 
Strength was the more necessary as a French invasion of 
the New England colonies was apprehended. 

And so we run on through the years: In 1716 Lieu- 
tenant Governor William Dummer, a well-known name 
in the history of Massachusetts, assumed command of 
Castle William, agreeable to orders from the Crown, 
and thereby incurred the ill-feeling of the general court 
of the province which heretofore had had prerogative 
in the appointment of a commandant. In 1740 the fort 
was repaired in anticipation of war with France and a 
new bastion mounting 20 forty-two pounders was 
created and named Shirley bastion. 

Ordnance presented by the King arrived in 1744; a 

29 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



second magazine was built in 1747; and a third added 
during Shirley's administration. In 1747 a riot oc- 
curred in Boston and the governor took refuge at the 
Castle. Upon assurance that his authority would be 
sustained the governor returned to the city two days 
after his flight. 

On the 15th of August, 1757, Governor Pownal 
arrived to assume the government of the province. 
Sir William Pepperell, conqueror of Louisburg, held 
command of Castle William. In accordance with cus- 
tom Sir William surrendered the key of the castle to 
the new executive and said, " Sir, I hand you the key of 
the province." Not outdone at all, Governor Pownal 
replied, " Sir, the interests of the province are in your 
heart. I shall always be glad, therefore, to see the key 
of the province in your hands." Thus the doughty old 
warrior was maintained in his command until his death 
in 1759. 

In this same year died Captain Lieutenant John 
Larrabee, who had lived for fifty years on the island in 
the service of the Crown. In 1764 the Castle was used 
as an inoculation station during the ravages of a plague 
of smallpox which swept the little city. 

It was about this time that the fort began to take 
part in the events with which Boston is associated before 
the outbreak of the American Revolution. Stamps by 
which revenue was expected to be raised from the 
colonies were brought to Boston in 1765 and for security 

30 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 



were lodged in Castle William. Vigorous opposition in 
America caused the repealment of the act of which they 
were intended to be the tokens of enforcement and they 
were taken back to England at the expiration of not 
many months. These, it will be seen, were not the 
stamps which figured in the famous Boston Tea Party, 
but they were of the same nature. The maintenance 
of a large force of military at Castle William by the 
Crown in the years immediately following this was a 
source of irritation to the patriots of the day, and had 
an influence in determining the events which brought 
about the separation from the Mother Country. 

Captain Sir Thomas Adams, who died on board the 
frigate Romney, was buried on Castle Island October 8, 
1772, and his obsequies were conducted with great pomp. 
In removing earth to Fort Independence thirty years 
later his corpse, enclosed in a double coffin higlily orna- 
mented, but upon which the inscription had become 
illegible, was dug out, and, no one discovering at the 
time whose remains the coffin contained, it was com- 
mitted to the common burying ground at the south 
point of the island where its resting-place was soon 
not to be distinguished from that of the common soldiers 
which surrounded it. 

With this coffin necessarily others were removed, and 
one was favored with an inscription which betrayed, we 
may assume, either native simplicity or British sarcasm. 
It read: " Here lies the body of John, aged fifty years, a 
faithful soldier and a Desperate Good Gardner " I 

31 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



It does not appear that the force quartered on the 
island was engaged in the first two battles of the Revo- 
lution. The commandant of the castle had been sent in 
February, 1776, to seize powder and other military 
stores at Salem; but he was delayed at the ferry by the 
militia until the objects of the depredation had been 
moved beyond his reach. He returned peaceably to 
the island. The same officer was ordered from Castle 
William at this time with five hundred men to draw the 
Americans, by a false attack, from their posts at Rox- 
bury. The attack did not succeed and the burning of 
five or six houses in Dorchester was the only result. 

In the meantime a formidable force of Americans 
was concentrated in the vicinity of Boston under Wash- 
ington; so General Howe, the successor of General 
Gage, evacuated the town March 17, and the British 
fleet dropped below the Castle. The embarkation had 
been a scene of confusion and distress, it being the 
27th of March before the transports were able to put to 
sea. At their departure the British troops threw into 
the water iron balls and shot, broke oiF the trunnions 
of the ordnance given to Castle William in 1740, de- 
stroyed the military stores and battery apparatus which 
they could not take with them and finally blew up the 
citadel, leaving the island a mass of ruins. Part of the 
British fleet lay in the lower harbor until June, when 
it was harassed by American troops under General Lin- 
coln and raised the blockade of Boston Harbor after 

S2 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 



the exact duration of two years. With the British troops 
the seat of the war was removed from Massachusetts, 
and Castle Island was thenceforth, unmolested, in 
American possession. 

Colonel John TurnbuU was the officer sent by Gen- 
eral Washington to take possession of the island after 
the evacuation. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere was 
stationed on the island from 1777 to 1779. 

At the conclusion of the Revolution it was enacted 
by the legislature of Massachusetts that all criminals 
of the State under sentence of confinement should be 
removed to Castle Island. Pursuant to this law con- 
victs were sent to the island, and though their number 
never exceeded ninety their audacity taxed the vigilance 
of the garrison ; they made several bold, fruitless efforts 
to escape, and in their mutinies some were killed and 
some wounded. Others met their death while endeavor- 
ing to form subterranean passages. Stephen Bur- 
roughs, whose extensive forgeries gave him great noto- 
riety, here learned the art of a nailer, and in his published 
memoirs has publicly boasted of his Castle Island 
exploits. 

It was with reluctance that the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts could bring itself to the cession of the Castle 
to the United States government, but the State was 
nevertheless willing to sacrifice the partial advantage 
to the public good and, October, 1798, passed an act by 
which the transfer was accomplished. 

3 S3 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



In 1799 President Adams visited the fort and was 
received with due honors. It was at this time that the 
name was changed to Independence. With regard to 
this, Captain Nehemiah Freeman wrote: "The bap- 
tism was not indecorous and the godfather (President 
Adams) is certaintly unexceptionable; but Fort Inde- 
pendence must count some years before he can entirely 
divest his elder brother of his birthright; and though 
the mess of pottage might have been sold in 1776 yet 
the title of ' The Castle ' is rather endearing to the in- 
habitants of INIassachusetts and is still bestowed by the 
greater part as the only proper appellation." 

A new fort was now planned and constructed under 
the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Toussard, 
who was inspector of all of the posts of the Eastern 
seaboard. The first stone was laid May 7, 1801, and 
the whole superstructure was raised from an original 
design not influenced by the structure standing hitherto. 
On the 23d of June, 1802, the national colors were first 
displayed at the new fort. The work was a barbette 
fortification and was not materially different from the 
present-day structure. 

The five bastions of the fort were named, in 1805, as 
follows: First, " Winthrop " after Governor Winthrop, 
imder whose auspices the first fort w^as built; second, 
" Shirley," who repaired Castle William, erected other 
works and made it the strongest fortified point in 
British America; third, " Hancock," after the first gov- 

34 



FORT INDEPENDENCE 



ernor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, under 
whose administration new works were thrown up; 
fourth, " Adams," after John Adams, who bestowed 
its present name upon the fort and collected materials 
for its construction; fifth, "Dearborn," after General 
Dearborn, Secretary of War, under whose auspices 
Fort Independence was actually rebuilt. 

In 1833 the garrison was withdrawn and the post 
given over to the Engineers Department for construct- 
ing a new work, in effect a modernification and im- 
proved edition of the former structure. Work was 
prosecuted at intervals during the succeeding eighteen 
years. The post was regarrisoned July 4, 1851. The 
garrison was finally withdrawn November 25, 1879, and 
Fort Independence went out of service. 

Not long after that the island was deeded to the 
city by the Federal War Department for use as a pub- 
lic park. That it could ever be of service as a fighting 
man now in its old age is extremely improbable. The 
defence of Boston depends upon batteries located at a 
far greater distance from the city. 

To the north from Fort Independence can be seen 
the island upon which Fort Winthrop is situated and 
in the distance at the mouth of the harbor can be seen 
dimly the site of Fort Warren. Both of these posts 
have reached a dignified age, but neither has years or 
historical importance approximating that of their big 
brother. 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 

GOVERNOR'S ISLAND— NEW YORK HARBOR 




Even Governor's Island, once a smiling garden, appertaining 
to the sovereigns of the province, was now covered with fortifi- 
cations, inclosing a tremendous block-house, — so that this once 
peaceful island resembled a fierce little warrior in a big cocked hat, 
breathing gunpowder and defiance to the world! — Washington 
Irving, "Knickerbocker's New York." 

' HE graceful little island of Wash- 
ington Irving is described in a 
recent publication of the govern- 
ment printing office at Washing- 
ton after the following eloquent 
fashion: " Irregular in form but 
approaches nearly the segment of 
an oblate spheroid, its longest diameter being from north 
to south, and about 800 yards in length. The transverse 
diameter is about 500 yards. It has an elevation above 
high-water mark of 20 feet, and its face is smooth and 
green, with a rich carpet of grass." 

On the top of the highest feature of this smooth, 
green face with its rich carpet of grass is Fort Columbus, 
more properly known by its ancient name of Fort Jay. 
No doubt you will find it hard to visualize the impor- 
tance of Fort Jay. It is the head-quarters of the De- 
partment of the East of the army of the United States, 
you may be told. Yes, you will answer indifferently, 
it is a quiet little place, not nearly so noisy as the 
roaring forties of Broadway; it keeps to itself and is a 
sort of annex to the foot of the city to prevent the sea- 

36 




ENTRANCE TO FORT COLUMBUS (FORT JAY) GOVERNORS ISLAND, 
NEW YORK HARBOR 



I 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



ward view from the Battery being without variety ! Yet 
once on a time, not much more than a hundred years ago, 
Fort Jay was of so great importance to the city that the 
citizens all, rich men, poor men, beggarmen, and thieves 
(then, too), turned out in a body to build up the place 
overnight. 

The first point of land ever occupied in New York 
by the Dutch was Governor's Island, we are told on the 
excellent authority of Joseph Dankers and Sluyter, of 
Wueward, in Frusland, in " A Voyage to The Ameri- 
can Colonies in 1679-80 ": " In its mouth (East River) 
before the city, between the city and Red Hook on Long 
Island, lies Noten Island (Governor's Island) opposite 
the fort, the first place the Hollanders ever occupied in 
the bay. It is now only a farm with a house and a place 
upon it where the governor keeps a parcel of sheep." 

The fort here referred to was not Jay but Fort Am- 
sterdam, later Fort George, of historic memory, which 
stood on Manhattan where the Customs House of New 
York City now is. " Red Hook on Long Island " later 
was fortified, too, forming one of the line of defences cap- 
tured by the British from the Americans in their descent 
upon New York in the early days of the Revolution. 
The Indian name for Governor's Island was Pagganck, 
and Noten, — as above written, — or Nutten, or Nooten, 
came about from the abundance of nuts which could be 
found on the island. 

In 1637, the redoubtable Wouter Van Twiller, first 

37 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



governor of the colony under the New Amsterdam com- 
pany of which he had been a director, secured for his per- 
sonal use the island. It is fair to look at this gentleman 
inquisitively. " The renowned Wouter (or Walter) 
Van Twiller was descended from a long line of Dutch 
Burgomasters," says Washington Irving, " who had suc- 
cessively dozed away their lives, and grown fat upon the 
bench of magistracy in Rotterdam; and who had com- 
ported themselves with such singular wisdom and pro- 
priety that they were never either heard or talked of — 
which, next to being universally applauded, should be 
the object of ambition of all magistrates and rulers. 
. . . many a dunderpate, like the owl, the stupidest of 
birds, comes to be considered the very type of wisdom. 
This, by the way, is a casual remark which I would not for 
the universe have it thought I apply to Governor Van 
Twiller. It is true he was a man shut up within himself, 
like an oyster, and rarely spoke except in monosyllables ; 
but then it was allowed he seldom said a foolish thing. 
So invincible was his gravity that he was never known to 
laugh or even to smile through the whole course of a long 
and prosperous life. Nay, if a joke were uttered in his 
presence, that set light-minded hearers in a roar, it was 
observed to throw him into a state of perplexity. Some- 
times he would deign to inquire into the matter, and 
when, after much explanation, the joke was made as 
plain as a pike-staff, he would continue to smoke his pipe 

38 




1 .III \\.i>l,iiini>jii I'uiul. 1 uiL U-t: uii Upp.wit.r .^liore 




Where was Fort Amsterdam ; the Customs House 
FORT SITES IN PRESENT-DAY NEW YORK CITY 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



in silence and at length, knocking out the ashes, would 
exclaim, ' Well, I see nothing in all that to laugh about.' 
*' The person of this illustrious old gentleman was 
formed and proportioned as though it had been moulded 
by the hands of some cunning Dutch statuary, as a model 
of majesty and lordly grandeur. He was exactly five 
feet six inches in height, and six feet five inches in cir- 
cumference. His head was a perfect sphere and of such 
stupendous dimensions that Dame Nature with all her 
sex's ingenuity would have been puzzled to construct 
a neck capable of supporting it; wherefore she wisely 
declined the attempt and settled it firmly on the top of 
his backbone just between the shoulders. His body was 
oblong and particularly capacious at bottom; which was 
wisely ordained by Providence, seeing that he was a man 
of sedentary habits and very averse to the idle labor of 
walking. His legs were short but sturdy in proportion 
to the weight they had to sustain ; so that when erect he 
had not a little the appearance of a beer-barrel on skids. 
His face, that infallible index of the mind, presented a 
vast expanse unfurrowed by any of those lines and 
angles which disfigure the human countenance with what 
is termed expression. Two small gray eyes twinkled 
feebly in the midst, like two stars of lesser magnitude in 
a hazy firmament, and his full-fed cheeks, which seemed 
to have taken toll of everything that went into his mouth, 
were curiously mottled and streaked with dusky red, like 
a Spitzenberg apple." 

39 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



After the seizure of the colony by the British in 1664, 
the island became a perquisite of the governor's office, a 
sort of retreat from care for the occupant of that har- 
assed position, and was developed into a smiling garden. 
At this time it became known as Governor's Island, the 
name that has become its official designation on the 
charts of the present day. 

The first immigrants to New York under the English 
were assigned by the council to Nutten Island for deten- 
tion until the presence or non-presence of contagious dis- 
ease in their ranks could be proved. These immigrants 
were about fifty Palatines who had been driven from 
their home land by the war between Louis XIV and 
Holland and Austria. Subsequently 10,000 followed 
these first fifty unfortunate exiles. The island thus be- 
came the first quarantine station of the city of New York. 
I During the wars of the Spanish Succession until the 
J Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the people of the colonies of 
/ British North America were in constant dread of attack 
I by the French na^y and during this time it was urged 
continually that Governor's Island should be changed 
from a garden to a fortified spot. Notwithstanding this 
^ fact the successive executives Slaughter, Fletcher and 
Cornbury did nothing toward carrying out the desires of 
their subjects. 

It was a happy-go-lucky, careless era. Indeed when 
one looks back upon the perils of the early colonies and 
how they were survived it is like looking back upon the 

40 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



perils of childhood and wondering how one ever man- 
aged to get through. The colonies " just growed," which 
is true of a variety of things in this world, no doubt. 

During Governor Cornbury's administration, fifteen 
thousand pounds (a value in present day terms of far 
beyond seventy-five thousand dollars) was appropriated 
for building a fort upon Governor's Island, but Gov- 
ernor Cornbury used the money to build a pleasure house 
instead, to which he and succeeding governors might re- 
tire from press of business. 

Governor Cornbury, we may believe, was an edifying 
addition to the staid burgher circles of old New York. 
He was a small, shrimpish man, we are told, and inordi- 
nately vain. Being a cousin to her most Christian Maj- 
esty, Queen Anne, to which circumstance he owed his 
appointment, and having been assured that he resembled 
her hugely in appearance, he was in the habit of dressing 
himself like a woman and posing upon the balcony of his 
home, — that New Yorkers might be thrilled by a re- 
flection of royalty. Despite his royal connections his 
household was most impecunious and his wife gained a 
reputation for borrowing things which she had no inten- 
tion of ever giving back. Whenever the executive coach 
would be seen going the round of the streets on social 
duties bent, the good wives who might expect visits from 
her ladyship would say, it is said, " Quick, put away 
that fancy work and that vase" (or this and that), 
" Kathrine ! Her ladyship is about to call upon us." 

41 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Father Time strolled on through the terms of the 
various royal governors noting their idiosyncrasies and 
continually hearing the cry that Governor's Island 
should be fortified, but not by any of these gentlemen did 
he discover action taken. It was not until after the 
Continental Congress, October 6, 1775, directed that 
means should be immediately devised to make New York 
defensible that the little city one morning woke up to 
find that there were rudimentary fortifications on Gov- 
ernor's Island. Of course these fortifications were sup- 
plementary to the fort on the main island upon which the 
city chiefly depended, Fort George. This was the name 
the English had given to Fort Amsterdam's successor, 
an enlarged and strengthened edition of its original. 

Of little avail did all of these works prove, however, 
for the English, after the battle of Long Island, August 
27, 1776, were easily masters of the Americans in that 
part of the world. On August 30th, Admiral Howe 
sailed up New York Bay and anchored near the island, 
and the city of New York passed into British possession, 
not to be surrendered until the close of the war. 

The little force of men on Governor's Island under 
the command of Colonel Prescott abandoned the place 
on the approach of the British. One man was injured by 
a bullet in the arm as they were pulling away from the 
island. The place was garrisoned by the British during 
their occupancy of New York and was fortified more ex- 
tensively than it ever had been before. 

42 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



The site of all of these works was the site of present- 
day Fort Columbus or Fort Jay. 

After the Revolution the value of Governor's Island 
as a place of fortification was not taken advantage of 
and the works were allowed to fall into decay. In 1784 
Governor Clinton leased the spot to a certain Dr. Price 
as the site for a hotel and race course. This course was 
open during 1785 and 1786 and had staged upon it 
many exciting trials of speed. 

We have seen Governor's Island as a flowery retreat 
for the governors of New York from the cares of office, 
and we have looked in upon it in the charge of the rough 
soldiery of England. We now see it as the scene of the 
dissipations of the rabble and the lusty young sports of 
the old city. Yet another day is in store for the historic 
spot. 

After the retirement of Washington from the presi- 
dency the irritation between France and this country 
became intense, and fears were entertained of conflict 
between the European nation and its young former pro- 
tege. Agitation began once more in New York for the 
building up of the defensive works on Governor's Island. 
Pressing recommendations were made to the federal 
authorities. The story may be taken up and carried on 
here in the words of a government report : 

" The Secretary of War reported, December 19, 
1794, that one bastion commanding two low batteries 
had been undertaken and was in a considerable state of 

43" 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



forwardness, but obsen^ed that the works being only 
sodded would not stand very long. On January 18, 
1796, the Secretary reported to the Senate that Gov- 
ernor's Island had been fortified with a fort made of 
earth and two batteries, under its protection, partly lined 
with brick masonry ; that there had been erected two hot 
air furnaces, a large powder magazine and a barracks 
for the garrison; on February 10, 1797, that no altera- 
tions had been made since January 1796, except in the 
repairs and such additions as could be made to the garri- 
son. During this time there had been expended by the 
general government on the fortifications of the island as 
follows: 1794, $1,327; in 1795, $6,866.54; in 1796, 
$1,124. 

"But now the apprehension of a French invasion 
caused such clamor for protection among the people that 
immediate attention by the general government was be- 
stowed upon properly fortifying Governor's Island. 
Thirty thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars was 
at once appropriated to be expended upon the fort, which 
now became known as Fort Jay. Such was the fervor of 
the day that the professors and students of Columbia 
College went in a body to Governor's Island and worked 
on the fortifications with shovels and wheelbarrows. 

" Liberal appropriations were made by Congress in 

the three succeeding years for completing and improving 

the fort. In 1799, Congress appropriated $30,116.18; 

in 1800, $20,124; in 1801, $10,338.05. No further im- 

44 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



provements were made until 1806, when Fort Jay with 
the whole of its buildings was demolished except the 
walled counterscarp, the gate, the sally-port, the maga- 
zine, and two barracks ; all the rest was removed to give 
place for a work of durable materials. On the site of the 
old fort a new one, Fort Columbus, was erected, an in- 
closed pentagonal work with four bastions of masonry, 
calculated for one hundred guns, being of the same shape 
on three sides as Fort Jay, with the addition of fourteen 
feet on each side, and on the north side of a ravelin, with 
two retired casemates. Such was Fort Columbus when 
it was completed in 1809." 

Despite the flurried haste of New Yorkers to have 
the fort completed, despite the unprecedented exertions 
of the Columbia students with shovels and wheelbarrows, 
Fort Columbus, or Jay as it has been rebaptized of re- 
cent years in military circles, has never been in active 
service. 

Indeed, during the war of 1812, only three years 
after its completion, the need of a post farther out to sea 
than this called for the erection of that quaint little brick 
strong-box just oif present-day Fort Hamilton known 
as Fort Lafayette. It was called originally Fort Dia- 
mond but was renamed in honor of the great Frenchman 
on his visit to this country in 1824. Overshadowed by 
its great modern neighbor (Fort Hamilton), the little 
fortification is rarely observed, but it is still in active 
service and might give good account of itself if called 

45 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC P'ORTS 



upon to do so, better account in fact than its sire nestling 
close to America's greatest city. 

Not far from Fort Jay on Governor's Island is a 
little work whose name is not unfamiliar to New 
Yorkers. It is Castle Williams. Begun in 1807, it was 
completed in 1811 and as a military weapon has never 
been of service to the city which it was created to help 
protect. As a landmark in the harbor, however, it has 
acquired some little distinction solely through merit of 
the years, just as some men live through an entirely 
commonplace youth and middle age to become in their 
last years notable figures in their communities as class- 
mates of Father Time. 

At about the time that Castle Williams was being 
constructed, a similar work was in erection just off the 
Battery, Manhattan, on a ledge of rocks now a part of 
the city itself. This was Fort CUnton, which is the Cas- 
tle Garden, or Aquarium, of the present day. Fort Jay 
and Castle Williams, Fort Clinton and the Battery were 
the outing places of New Yorkers before the Civil War. 
To the Island or the Battery did the residents of the city 
repair for air and recreation on holidays and Sundays. 
An illuminating picture of this phase of the city's life 
is drawn by Abram C. Da}i;on in his " Last Days of 
Knickerbocker Life in New York." 

" Castle Garden, the legend says," he writes, " was 
created to protect the city against invasion. Whether 
these invaders were to be New Jersey Indians armed 

46 



FORT COLUMBUS, OR JAY 



with bows and arrows or Staten Island pirates bent upon 
destruction with popguns and firecrackers is not re- 
lated; but it is certain a very limited force would have 
been required to effect an entrance through its brick 
walls. About the time we write of its loud-mouthed 
armament had been removed" (about 1860) : "it had 
been placed by special orders from somewhere on a 
peace footing. It was neither a concert saloon, an opera 
house, nor a receptacle for needy immigrants; but the 
old white-washed barn was devoted to the restaurant 
business on a very limited scale, as ice cream, lemonade, 
and sponge cake constituted the list of delicacies from 
which to select. The ticket of admission required to pass 
its portcullis cost one shilling ; but that was a mere form 
instituted to guarantee perfect decorum, for it was re- 
deemed as cash in exchange for either of the above speci- 
fied articles of refreshment. At the close of a summer 
day its frowning battlements were crowded with listeners 
eager to catch a strain of martial music wafted from 
Governor's Island. 

*' Rabineau's swimming bath was moored to the 
wooden bridge which connected the old fort with the 
Battery grounds ; and on its roof protected by an awn- 
ing might be seen, after banking hours on summer after- 
noons, substantial citizens comfortably seated and re- 
freshing themselves after their bath with the sea breeze, 
accompanied by mint julep and sherry cobblers." 

Prior to 1852, Fort Columbus was for several difFer- 

47 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ent short periods of time empty of troops, but since that 
year it has always contained a garrison. In addition to 
being the head-quarters of the Department of the East, 
the old post is now used as a military prison and as a 
landing-place for the aerial branch of the army. 

A visit to Governor's Island to-day is a pleasant ex- 
cursion for a stranger in new New York and the port 
would be a new sight for most New Yorkers, so un- 
familiar are familiar places to those who are closest to 
them. One must have a pass from the military authori- 
ties at the island to go through the old works, but this 
can be secured upon written application without great 
difficulty by any citizen of the United States. 

A fine figure of a place Fort Columbus seems to be, 
— rather a braggart in its way! It spreads out, girded 
by its " dry moat," over the crest of the hill on which it 
is placed, in a truly threatening attitude. But one does 
not need to be told that this is hollow sham. A single 
shell from a modem engine of war would, no doubt, 
finish all of its pretensions. 

Looking from its sunny interior beyond its battle- 
mented walls one can see the airy fabric of New York's 
marvellous sky-scrapers against the eastern sky, a poig- 
nant contrast to the old stronghold. Age and youth! 
In this comparison the fort has that advantage which 
always inheres in years, it has seen youth grow from in- 
fancy and it knows the quick passing of all things. 



TICONDEROGA 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN— NEW YORK 




NE could desire to be at the bold 
promontory of Ticonderoga in 
1609, when the virgin woodside 
gazed anxiously at Samuel Cham- 
plain, that intrepid French 
adventurer, as he fired his bell- 
mouthed musket against the mys- 
tified Iroquois. The echoes of the discharge of this 
ancient firearm were seldom allowed to die in these wil- 
dernesses until the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, 
until the complete ascendency of white man over red 
had been established. 

Standing upon the ramparts of the old fort one 
may to-day easily imagine himself in a virgin forest 
world. Civilization has set her hand upon Lake Cham- 
plain, but her work is not obtrusively near to the fort. 
The hills to the rear are still wooded ; the waters, to front 
and sides, are clear; and the same blue bends over 
all. The immediate surroundings are little different 
from those in which Champlain fought his opera-boufFe 
fight and inaugurated the long struggle between red 
men and white in this part of the world. 

We must remember that in 1609 the French had 
already taken hold of New France. They had a queru- 
lous, contumacious baby of a colony on the Saint Law- 
rence at Quebec and to this point came many curious 

4 49 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



red men. With some of these red men the French had 
formed alliance. 

One tribe of these allies had seen the thunderous 
cannon and guns of the French and had suggested that 
these weapons be taken out and turned upon some of 
the ancient enemies of that tribe. The idea had ap- 
pealed to Champlain as eminently a clever one, and with 
eleven other Frenchmen armed with arquebuses and 
clad in light armor he had set out, on the 28th of June, 
with three hundred amiable red people. The party 
proceeded up the Saint Lawrence as far as the river 
which afterward became known as the Richelieu and 
here paused for feasting and a carouse. During the 
course of this ceremony three-quarters of the Indians 
became huffy over a trifle and left for their homes in 
a hurry, reducing the expedition to eleven Frenchmen 
and seventy-five Indians. 

As the expedition proceeded the Indians consulted 
their tutelary spirits. A small circular tent would be 
raised of skins over saplings and into this would crawl the 
medicine man with shudders and groans. A grand com- 
motion would be heard and then the voice of the spirit 
would speak in a thin, treble squeak. The tent structure 
would dance violently around and the savage spectators 
would feel that their divinity was having a very busy time. 

At length the French and Indians approached the 
lake which was to bear the name of the white chief, and 
made their way upon it in canoes. They came to a 

50 



TICONDEROGA 



promontory of land which bore the resounding Iroquois 
name of Ticonderoga, or " meeting of waters," in recog- 
nition of the fact that the waters of Lakes George and 
Champlain come together at the base of the eminence. 
Here they met a flotilla of skin canoes bearing a large 
war party of Iroquois and the issue of this little trip of 
Champlain's may now be said to have been fairly joined. 
The Iroquois, not being much given to fighting on 
water, paddled to land, while the invaders decided to 
spend the night in their canoes. All night long the air 
resounded with yells and epithets and bandied menaces, 
but, at length, morning broke and put an end to the 
unseemly clamor. The Frenchmen were concealed in 
the bottoms of canoes until a dramatic moment should 
arrive to show themselves. Their companions landed 
and now that they had come to their desire were filled 
with terror of the Iroquois, calling loudly for Cham- 
plain to come forth and destroy his opponents with 
thunder and lightning. The doughty Frenchman, feel- 
ing secure in his armor and his arms, threw aside the 
skins which covered him, and strode forth like a white 
god in shining raiment. The gallant Iroquois were filled 
with consternation at the sight of him. Raising his 
arquebus, into which he had stuffed four balls, he fired 
at short range, slaying two chiefs and wounding one. A 
second shot caused the defenders to break and flee, and 
this gave Champlain's allies opportunity to kill and capt- 
ure to their hearts' content. 

51 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The expedition made its way back to Quebec filled 
with exultation. Thus did Ticonderoga come upon the 
pages of history. 

This engagement of Champlain's — incidental as it 
seems — had far-reaching consequences in the destiny of 
France in the New World. By the slaughter of the 
Iroquois Champlain mortally offended the Five Na- 
tions, which was an all-powerful Indian confederation, 
incurring an enmity never remitted. The alliance of the 
Long House with the English was one of the factors that 
helped to turn the scale in their favor in the long contest 
for balance of power which the years brought about be- 
tween France and England in the New World. 

On this very same day of July, 1609, while Cham- 
plain's arquebus was frightening the solitudes of this 
leafy part of the wild New World, a little vessel known 
as the Half Moon was in anchor on the New England 
coast while the carpenter fitted a new foremast. A few 
weeks later the Half Moon was in the Hudson and had 
come to anchor above present Troy in the precincts over 
which the warriors of the Long House kept watch. 
Thus does the Muse of History play different parts 
with two hands. 

Time passed and French and Indian war parties 
again and again went by the point of land on which 
Ticonderoga now stands, bent on marauding and har- 
rying the English villages. Lake Champlain and Lake 
George had become part of the great highway between 

52 



TICONDEROGA 



French world and English world. Finally, in 1735, 
Crown Point, the fore-runner of Ticonderoga, was es- 
tablished by the French as an organized centre of power 
and an outpost thrown toward the English. Twenty 
years after this Ticonderoga came into prominence. 

The year 1755 was a doleful one for the English 
colonies. It was the year of Braddock's defeat. In 
January, Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, proposed 
an attack on Crown Point. The other colonies were 
taken with the idea and raised levies of men and funds. 
A heterogeneous army was the result imder the leader- 
ship of William Johnson, of New York, with the rank 
of Major-general, separately bestowed upon him by 
each of the colonies taking part. His selection was due 
not only to his immense personal popularity but to his 
influence in the Long House of the Five Nations as 
well, no other white man of his time having so much 
authority with the dwellers in the forest. Of white 
men he had altogether about eight thousand and he 
had his Indian allies. 

That in an army which included men from Massa- 
chusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and 
New Hampshire there should be some bickering and 
disagreements was inevitable, but, at length, the column 
reached the foot of Lake George, which had become 
known to its French acquaintances as Lac le Sacrement. 
Now it received a new baptism. " I have given it the 

53 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



name of Lake George," wrote Johnson to the Lords 
of Trade, " not only in honor of His Majesty but to 
ascertain (assert) his undoubted dominion here." Lake 
George it has been ever since. A camp was made where, 
after a time. Fort WiUiam Henry was built, and a most 
unmilitary camp it was, if we can believe the accounts 
of contemporaries. Though a dense forest gave cover 
for an enemy to its very borders, no effort was made 
to clear away the trees. Painted Indians lounged 
around, traders squabbled together, and Xew England 
clergymen preached to the savages long Calvinistic 
sermons. 

Meanwhile the French at Crown Point were prepar- 
ing a surprise for Johnson. Large forces under the 
German Baron Dieskau had come up, and Dieskau had 
assumed command of the united troops. He had no 
thought of waiting to be attacked. He told his men 
to be in readiness to move at a moment's notice. Officers 
were to take nothing with them but one spare shirt, 
one spare pair of shoes, a blanket, a bearskin and pro- 
visions for twelve days. The Indians were to make 
up their minds not to take scalps until the enemy had 
been entirely defeated, because the operation of taking 
a scalp was too lengthy a proceeding, and kept them 
from killing other men. Then Dieskau moved on to a 
promontory which commanded both Lake Champlain 
and Lake George. It was a high wooden mount with 

54 



TICONDEROGA 



a magnificent view of the waters; in short, our old 
friend Ticonderoga. 

The German baron for a time made camp here, the 
first formal military occupation of this point, but at 
length, being misinformed by an American prisoner, 
who had been threatened with torture, as to the force 
Johnson had, he prepared to move in haste and with 
deadly intent against the American colonials. News 
of Braddock's defeat had just then become general in- 
formation, and throughout the ranks of the ignorant 
white men of the French party and of all their savage 
allies ran an unwarranted contempt for English bravery 
based on accounts of that lamentable massacre. Dies- 
kau left a part of his force at Ticonderoga, and embark- 
ing with the rest in canoes and bateaux made his way 
through the narrow southern part of Lake Champlain 
to where the town of Whitehall now stands, a point at 
which they pitched camp. 

The close of the next day found them well on toward 
Johnson and on the day after that the battle of Lake 
George took place. It is unnecessary to go into detail 
about this. The first part of the day went against the 
Americans, who had foolishly sent out against Dieskau, 
when they received word of his approach, an insufficient 
number of white and red forces; but the end of the 
day found the Americans victorious. Dieskau was 
badly wounded and was a prisoner. 

The story goes that a delegation of chiefs waited 

55 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



upon Johnson while Dieskau was in his cabin. The 
unwilUng guest made some comment about them to his 
host after their departure. " Yes, they wish to be 
allowed to burn you," was the response. Johnson took 
extraordinary pains that the French leader should not 
fall into the hands of his savages, and Dieskau died a 
peaceful death as a result of his wounds several years 
later, midst the civilization of Bath, England, whence 
he had gone in hopes of being benefited by the waters. 

Johnson commenced now to build Fort Wilham 
Henry at one end of Lake George, and the French, 
quickly recovering from their set-back, began building 
at the other end, on the site of Dieskau's camp, the 
famous Fort Ticonderoga. The building of the French 
fort consumed the greater part of 1756 and 1757, 
and was consummated under the reign, in Canada, of 
Vaudreuil. 

The original plan of Fort Ticonderoga was of a 
bastion fort, but afterwards star-shaped outer walls, 
following plans of the great Vauban, were added. 
The French built solidly in their various military works, 
and Fort Ticonderoga was an enduring and strong 
construction. 

We have seen Fort William Henry and Fort Ti- 
conderoga started as rivals. The survivor of these two 
was Ticonderoga, and the destruction of Fort William 
Henry was the occasion of one of the saddest and most 
horrible massacres in American history. In 1757 the 

£6 



TICONDEROGA 



Marquis de Montcalm, chief of the French king's forces 
in Canada, was at Ticonderoga and with him was the 
ChevaHer de Levis with about eight thousand regulars, 
Canadians and Indians. The troopers and the irregular 
forces were camped around the walls of Ticonderoga 
near the lake and in the rear of the fort where the emi- 
nence of land on which the fort stands continues in a 
gentle plateau before commencing its descent. A color- 
ful, picturesque camp it was, with its red Indians, its 
half-breed whites, and its careless soldiery. The officers 
and gentlemen of consequence were lodged in the fort 
where they ate in the mess hall and lounged and smoked 
and drank at leisure. 

With his eight thousand men Montcalm set forth 
on the first of August, 1757, across the little neck of 
land which divides Lake Champlain from Lake George, 
leaving a small detachment to hold the fort, and made 
his way along Lake George to near Fort William 
Henry. His Britannic Majesty's stronghold was solidly 
built and was in command of a capable officer, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel Munro, a brave Scotchman, but its gar- 
rison was insufficient, and reinforcements were never 
sent. Montcalm attacked. 

So well did the little band of beleaguered men con- 
test their position, that when inevitably they surrendered 
very favorable terms were offered. It was agreed that 
the English troops should march out with the honors of 
war and be escorted to Fort Edward by a detachment 

57 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



of French troops ; that they should not serve for eighteen 
months, and that all French prisoners captured in 
America since the war began should be given up within 
three months. The stores, munitions, and artillery were 
to be the prize of the victors, except that the garrison, 
in recognition of its bravery, was to retain one field- 
piece. The Indian chiefs were consulted in the making 
of these terms and agreed to them by shaking of the 
hands. 

When the capitulation took place, a scene very dif- 
ferent from that which had been anticipated was to be 
viewed. The Indians, excited by the presence of so 
many captives, as they considered the English prisoners 
of war, were not to be restrained and, though measures 
were taken to hold them in rein, fell upon the helpless 
men and women and butchered them mercilessly. 

The morning after the massacre soldiers were set to 
work destroying all that remained of Fort William 
Henry. 

The year that followed the massacre — 1758 — 
brought the most formidable looking and least effective 
of all of the attacks against Ticonderoga. The English, 
thoroughly incensed at the loss of Fort William Henry, 
had set themselves with determination to destroy Ti- 
conderoga and to this end had raised a great force of 
regular soldiery, provincial militia and those invaluable 
irregular border troops of which Roger's rangers are 
a good example, and had placed them under the com- 

58 



TICONDEROGA 



mand of General Abercrombie. The whole body lay 
encamped in June, 1758, at the head of Lake George, 
within easy striking distance of the terrible French 
stronghold. It numbered nearly fifteen thousand men, 
all told. Montcalm's forces were not one- fourth so 
numerous and the great French leader was sadly sure 
of disaster to himself and his men. 

That disaster did not, indeed, fall upon the French 
as the outcome of this undertaking on the part of the 
British is to be ascribed primarily to the unfortunate 
choice of a leader which they had had made for them 
and to Providence, which early in the campaign re- 
moved from their midst the only military talent which 
they seem to have possessed. Abercrombie was a politi- 
cal heritage of corrupt powers in England, where the 
government had undergone a great reconstruction since 
the horrors of Fort William Henry, and had been kept 
in authority solely on account of pressure which could 
be brought to bear at home. Lord Pitt had appointed 
as second in command of the expedition one of the few 
military geniuses of his age, — as all of his contempo- 
raries admitted, — the young Lord Howe, elder brother 
of the more famous Sir William Howe, who later com- 
manded His Majesty's forces in America against the 
rebellious colonies. " The noblest Englishman that has 
appeared in my time and the best soldier in the British 
army," said Wolfe, of him. In a minor skirmish at 
the very first of the reconnoitring around Ticonderoga 

59 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



he was killed by an Indian's bullet, and the English 
troops were left to flounder on from one blunder to 
another. 

The last part of the march against Ticonderoga was 
commenced on the morning of July 4 and by July 6 
the soldiers were at the head of Lake George and in 
touch with the enemy in Ticonderoga just over a ridge 
of woods. 

The ridge of land on which Ticonderoga is situated 
continues northwest without the sharp decline that 
marks its topography in every other direction. Along 
this spine, then, the English attack might be expected, 
so in this quarter Montcalm had had barriers built of 
fallen trees, laid together so as to form a zig-zag parapet 
nine feet in height and with a platfonii behind, from 
which the French soldiers might shoot without exposing 
themselves. Along the entire front of this barricade 
the ground was strewn with sharp -pointed boughs. 
Obviously it was not a position that infantry could 
take without the aid of artillery. 

Yet, under Abercrombie's command, the English 
advanced against this work without waiting for the 
cannon which they had with them to be brought up. 
Between noon and nightfall of July 7 they made six 
gallant assaults without result. A perfect hades of 
shot and flame those logs became. The scene has been 
described by one of Roger's rangers who took part in 
the action, and his description, found in an old letter, 

60 



TICONDEROGA 



was published a decade ago in Harper's Magazine, by 
one of his descendants. " The maze of fallen trees with 
their withered leaves hanging broke their ranks and the 
French Retrenchment blazed fire and death " he wrote. 
" They advanced bravely up but all to no good purpose 
and hundreds there met their death. My dear Joseph 
I have the will but not the way to tell you all that I 
saw that awful afternoon. I have since been in many 
battles and skirmishes but I have never witnessed such 
slaughter and such wild fighting as the British storm 
of Ticonderoga. We became mixed up — Highlanders, 
Grenadiers, Light Troops, Rangers and all, and we 
beat against that mass of logs and maze of fallen timber 
and we beat in vain. I was once carried right up to 
the breastwork, but we were stopped by the bristling 
mass of sharpened branches, while the French fire swept 
us front and flank. The ground was covered deep with 
dying men and, as I think it over now, I can remember 
nothing but the fruit bourne by the tree of war, for I 
looked upon so many wondrous things that July day 
that I could not set them downe at all. We drew off 
after seeing that no human valour could take that work. 
We Rangers then skirmished with the French colony 
troops and the Canada Indians until dark while our 
people rescued the wounded, and then we fell back. The 
Army was utterly demoralized and made a headlong 
retreat during which many wounded men were left to 
die in the woods." 

61 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



On the day following his victory Montcalm had a 
great cross planted in the battle-field bearing words, 
composed by himself, which have been translated by 
Parkman as follows: 

Soldier and chief and rampart's strength are nought ; 
Behold the Conquering Cross ! 'Tis God the triumph wrought. 

The old fort was to fall into English hands the next 
year, however, when Amherst, commander-in-chief of 
the English forces in America, advanced against it with 
a force of British and Americans. Montcalm had hur- 
ried to the defence of Quebec with the greater part of 
his force and Ticonderoga was in the command of 
Boulemarque, a capable officer, but one no more able 
than any other man to accomplish the impossible. He 
could not hold the position with the inconsiderable force 
he had against that opposed to him. A stroke of Provi- 
dence was not to be anticipated a second time. So, 
while the British encamped under the walls of the fort 
prepared to attack it the next day, Boulemarque set a 
fuse to the powder magazine and marched his men out. 
There was a great explosion and a rending of walls, 
and Ticonderoga's besiegers knew that the fort was 
their prize. 

Through the rest of the French and Indian War, 
which was from this time forward a tale of uninter- 
rupted success for the British arms, Ticonderoga played 
no part except that of a garrisoned English possession. 

62 




The Mess Hall 




A Council Room 
INTERIOR VIEWS OF FORT TICONDEROGA, N. Y 



I 



TICONDEROGA 



Its walls were repaired where Boulemarque's match 
had shattered them. 

The prestige of the fort had now become such that 
in the fermenting first days of the outbreak in the 
colonies against the Mother Country it was conceived 
that the seizure of the place would have an immense 
moral effect in the colonies. A sturdy Vermont man, 
Ethan Allen, with his Green Mountain boys, was given 
the task of seizing it. In early spring, 1775, Allen ap- 
proached the old Indian stronghold now held by merely 
a handful of British, who had no idea that the Americans 
were in action against them. One cannot depreciate the 
tenacity of purpose and hardiness which carried Ethan 
Allen and his men through the inhospitable wilderness to 
success in their enterprise, but the military valor of the 
action was not great. With his men Allen crept up to 
the unsuspecting stronghold, seized the sentry, and, 
while his men scattered through the fort making pris- 
oners of its inmates, thundered at the door of the com- 
manding officer : " Open in the name of the Great 
Jehovah and the Continental Congress." While know- 
ing little of the Continental Congress, the officer sub- 
mitted to the inevitable. 

The news of Allen's exploit was spread through the 
colonies and was a determining influence with many 
undecided Americans. His resounding phrase has been 
repeated by school-boys many times since and is per- 
haps more familiarly associated with the name of Ti- 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



conderoga than any of the great exploits which have 
marked its past. 

For a time the Americans held on to the fort. In 
1776 a large force was concentrated here, since it 
guarded that very vital means of access to the heart 
of the colonies which the British persistently tried to 
make use of. It was from this point that in 1776 
Benedict Arnold set forth with a small fleet of vessels 
to attack Sir Guy Carleton at Valcour Island. Though 
the American fleet was almost entirely destroyed, it, 
nevertheless, set back the plans of the British one year 
and delayed their projected invasion from the north 
that long. 

In 1777 Burgoyne invested the fort and, by dragging 
some guns to the top of Mount Defiance, an eminence 
which conmiands Ticonderoga, caused General Arthur 
St. Clair of the American forces to evacuate the place. 
Burgoyne occupied the fort for a passing visit but was 
soon on his way into the colonies by the ancient trail 
which war parties for generations had trod, fortimately, 
for the colonies, to meet defeat and loss of his army at 
the battle of Saratoga. 

The fort remained in the hands of the British until 
after the surrender of Yorktown, though Colonel Brown 
of Massachusetts made a brave effort to take it once 
more. During the War of 1812 it Hstened to the guns 
of McDonough's improvised fleet in action with the 

64 



TICONDEROGA 



British, but it had no active part in this action or in this 
war, itself. 

In 1806 the property on which the old fort stands 
was leased from Union and Columbia colleges by 
William F. Pell of New York, it being a part of a State 
grant to these institutions. Mr. Pell built a summer 
cottage for himself and, in 1816, purchased the land. 
The cottage was destroyed in 1825 and a second build- 
ing known as the Pavilion was erected. The Pavilion 
is still in use and has never been out of the Pell family. 

The walls of Ticonderoga, the fort, were not greatly 
prized by the early holders of tliis Pell tract and it 
remained for the present head of his generation, 
Mr. Stephen H. P. Pell, to appreciate the historic value 
of the old place and to set about a work of restoration 
and repair. The foundations of the walls were still 
solid and some of the old buildings were still standing 
when, in 1909, Mr. Pell began his work of rebuilding. 
The original plans of the fort were secured from the 
French government. The work of rehabilitation has 
been carried forward in strict accordance with author- 
ities. Historic points in the grounds surrounding the 
fort have been marked with tablets and monuments and 
each year sees an increasing number of visitors coming 
to Ticonderoga to inspect this history-filled place. 



A 



CROWN POINT 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN— NEW YORK 




T would be hard, gazing upon 
Crown Point to-day, to realize the 
storms and terrors it let loose upon 
the English colonists not quite 
two hundred years ago. Girt by 
the smiling waters of one of 
America's most beautiful lakes, 
overtopped by a verdant mountain, and gazing out 
upon green fields in the shade of majestic woodlands, 
all of the atmosphere of the place is one of peace and 
aloofness from the pain of human suffering. Yet 
the name " Crown Point " was a sinister thing in the 
early days of the English colonists, particularly in 
the northern provinces. The New England matron 
putting to bed her infant Stephen Brewster or little 
Praise-the-Lord Jones, or the Dutch vrouw in the 
country round about Albany with her little Van 
Rensselaer Tasselwitch, had but to utter this dreadful 
name, " Crown Point," to bring her child into the 
most docile state of apprehension. From Crown Point 
went forth the scalping parties of French, Indian and 
half-breeds, which preyed upon the borders of the Eng- 
lish colonies, carrying wrack and horror wherever they 
went. A glad and beautiful place, it nourished in its 
heart an evil spirit. 

The settlement of the Crown Point district by the 

66 



CROWN POINT 



French began soon after the opening of the eighteenth 
century. The beautiful lake which bears the name of 
its discoverer had been known in France for more than 
a century, and the country which lay between Lake 
Champlain and Lake Ontario — all that wilderness 
stretch of northern New York of to-day — had been 
charted with a fair degree of exactness, as well. The 
riches of the region were well sensed. Accordingly, a 
large and important province was planned by the 
French political geographers whose eastern boundary 
should be the Connecticut and whose western boundary 
should be Lake Ontario. North was the St. Lawrence 
River, and the southern confine was rather misty, ex- 
cept that it was determined that it should be all that 
could be kept from the English. The metropolis and 
capital of this fine project was to be a place situated 
at that peculiar bend in Lake Champlain where there 
was a projecting tongue of land, making a fine site 
for settlement, fortification and development. In other 
words, it was to be Crown Point, or Pointe de Couronne, 
as the French had it. A body of settlers was sent over 
about 1729, and in 1731 a fortification was commenced 
at the tip of the Crown Point peninsula which was 
named Fort Saint Frederic. The remains of this forti- 
fication are barely visible on the lake side of the point 
to-day near the Champlain Memorial light-house. And 
now a few words as to the geography of this part of 
Lake Champlain. 

67 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The lake, as all know, is a long, narrow tongue of 
water. About mid-way down it is constricted to even 
more than its usual slender width (" slender" as pro- 
portioned to the length) and the water is carried off at 
a sharp angle to the east. Just before the constriction, 
however, there is a protuberance, and on the west shore 
of this protuberance, or bay, there stands to-day the 
thriving little foundry town of Port Henry. Directly 
across the water from Port Henry, and at the point 
where the lake makes a sharp bend to the east, is a 
long, narrow point of land, and this is Crown Point. 
Crown Point has water on two sides of it. Though 
only a short distance from Port Henry by boat, it is 
quite a long distance by land, for, then, one must drive 
down to the base of the peninsula and work out to the 
point along the five-mile extent of the peninsula. The lake 
on the east side of Crown Point peninsula is so narrow 
that a cannon could easily fire across it. Behind Port 
Henry, that is, on the west side of the lake, is a precipi- 
tous mountain-side. The Point, therefore, was well 
protected in the days when cannon were with difficulty 
to be found in America and when they could not be 
transported easily through the wilderness of the New 
World. It could only be approached by water or by 
the long, narrow strip of land which joined it with the 
mainland, and either one of these approaches it could 
master very easily. 

The first fort on Crown Point, Fort Saint Frederic, 

68 



CROWN POINT 



was a little five-pointed star-shaped fort. Though small 
in size, it played a far larger part in events than the 
mighty successor which the years brought and which 
we shall presently come to. Fort Saint Frederic was 
for twenty-five years the only French stronghold in 
this part of the world. In 1756 Ticonderoga was begun. 
In the council-rooms of old Saint Frederic what strange 
visitors might have been seen, what bizarre juxtaposi- 
tions of Old World and New, of sophistication and 
savagery I During all of its life the little fort was a 
rendezvous for Indians. Here, too, the Baron Dieskau 
made himself at home before setting out on the expedi- 
tion, unfortunate for himself, against Johnson on Lake 
George. Here might have been seen Montcalm and 
other of the mightiest and craftiest warriors of old 
France in the new. 

Except as a centre for Indians and a council hall 
for white and red, the little fort did not ever take part 
in fighting. When the English finally advanced in 
force against the strongholds on Lake Champlain, 
Ticonderoga was the point which bore the brunt of the 
onslaughts. First, Johnson came against these two 
hornet nests of French and Indians and accomplished 
little. Then Abercrombie made his futile and disgrace- 
ful try ("Mother Nabercrombie " he was long after- 
ward known in the colonies). Finally the two forts 
fell before the large force which Amherst, in 1757, 
brought against them and as a result of the need of men 

69 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



at Quebec which had depleted their strength beyond the 
power of resistance. Fort Saint Frederic, hke Ticon- 
deroga, was deserted without a shot being fired, though 
its departing commander tried to destroy it by fusing 
the magazines. 

Under the British the old French fort was dis- 
mantled and allowed to fall into decay. So well did the 
situation of Crown Point appeal to the British, how- 
ever, as a place of fortification and so important was a 
hold upon Lake Champlain deemed, that the British 
began the construction of a massive fortress, on the 
most approved model, which was completed as far as it 
was ever carried within the course of a few years after 
Amherst's occupation of the point and which cost ten 
millions of dollars. This is an outlay which would be 
large even to-day. The jagged ruins of the walls of 
this fort, which never fired a shot in anger, are what one 
sees now on Crown Point when paying the old place a 
visit. 

When Ethan Allen took Ticonderoga with his 
Green Mountain boys, Crown Point also fell to the 
Americans without resistance. It came passively into 
English hands again and after the Revolution was 
allowed to fall into decay. 

Not far from the remains of Crown Point fort is the 
beautiful and large monimient to Samuel Champlain, 
known as the Champlain Memorial. It takes the form 
of a light-house and is most solidly and durably con- 

70 



CROWN POINT 



structed. Erected through the joint subscription of the 
States of Vermont and New York, the monument is, 
as well, a tribute to public spirit. In character the 
light-house is memorial of the past rather than symbolic 
of the future; a heroic statue in bronze of Champlain 
faces the east and at the base of the statue is Rodin's 
** La France," presented to the States of New York 
and Vermont for this undertaking by France. 



l^' 



i\ 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 

(THE CITADEL, CASTLE ST. LOUIS) 

CANADA 




HAT hardy mariner, Jacques 
Cartier, sailed up the St. Law- 
rence River in 1535, but it was 
not until 1608, when Cham- 
plain's vessel brought the first 
permanent colonists of New 
France, that Quebec was 
founded. The storm-tossed little caravel entered the 
St. Lawrence in the early summer of that year. Cham- 
plain landed his miscellaneous following, built "L'Habi- 
tation," as he named the first official residence in 
Quebec, and laid the foundations of a small fort, an 
act portentous of the stirring events which the future 
held calmly waiting their turn and which were to give 
Quebec so conspicuous a place in the military annals of 
the New World. 

The first fortifications were little more than gun 
platforms placed at an advantageous position so as 
to command the river. Their site became the location 
of Castle St. Louis and is to-day the eastern end of the 
Duiferin Terrace. So it is easy to remember where 
Champlain laid the foundations of the new city. 

The new seat of power was shortly to see its master 
exerting his authority in a way not to be lightly mis- 
taken. Treachery was plotted by some among Cham- 

72 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 



plain's followers, who planned to assassinate their chief 
and sell his new city to the Spaniards. News of this 
move was brought to Champlain's ears. He caused the 
ringleaders to be seized by his soldiers and hung in the 
fort until dead. In this fashion the stronghold saw its 
first acts of violence. Scurvy marked the passage of 
the first winter in the New World of the little fort's 
defenders, and by the spring only the most hardy were 
alive. 

The years which came between 1608 and 1629, the 
date of the first formal siege of Quebec, brought 
enlargement and strength to both the fort and the city. 
During this period both had been frequently surrounded 
by hostile Indians, who feared the white man's guns 
too much to attempt an attack by storm but who prowled 
around beneath the very ramparts of the fort seeking 
for unwary adventurers who might be without the gates. 
The control of the little colony in France had passed 
through various hands, but always the chief executive 
in the New World had been its founder, the rugged 
Champlain. The year 1629 finds the little colony in 
the possession of the Company of the 100 Associates, an 
organization founded by His Excellency, Cardinal 
Richelieu, and of which His Eminence was himself a 
member, and the winter of this year finds the colony 
in its usual desperate straits, beleaguered by winter and 
by savage foe and deserted in all but name by its 
sponsors in France. 

78 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



In the spring of 1629 the inhabitants of Quebec 
were gladdened by the intelligence that a fleet had been 
discerned from Cap Toui*mente in the mouth of the 
river and that it was even then approaching the city. 
It was supposed that this was the long-wished-for squad- 
ron of relief ships and that all would be prosperity and 
good cheer in the town for a time now. The citizens 
assembled on the walls of the fort to descry the distant 
sail, when word was brought by a friendly Indian that 
the looked-for vessels, far from being messengers of 
peace, were, in fact, emissaries of war; that they were 
English, and that they had just burned and pillaged a 
fishing village in a care-free, happy-go-lucky fashion on 
the way up the river. War had been declared between 
England and France and Quebec had not received word 
of it ! Joy was changed to woe. 

The next day emissaries arrived from Sir David 
Kirke, the English admiral in command of the fleet, 
demanding the surrender of the town and the fort, but 
Champlain, believing that help would soon arrive from 
France and not being of the temper, anyhow, which 
quickly gives up, turned these messengers away with 
words of defiance. The first siege of Quebec was now 
begun. 

To tell the truth it was an informal sort of matter, 
anyhow, this first siege of Quebec. The Enghsh vessels 
pounded away at the town for a day or two in a casual 
fashion and then drifted down the river. The French, 

74 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 



on their part, had but fifty pounds of powder and were 
very careful about wasting any of this. Time passed 
and still no aid came from distant France. At length 
the intelligence which Champlain had been dreading was 
brought to him. The long-awaited French relief ships 
had entered the mouth of the St. Lawrence only to be 
overcome and seized by the English blockader. Hope 
had now departed, and when, in July, three English 
ships sailed up to the town, Champlain and his sixteen 
soldiers watched them apathetically because they knew 
that they, themselves, could do no more. Quebec was 
surrendered to the English and on July 20, 1629, the 
English flag for the first time flew over the little settle- 
ment. Said one of Kirke's captains: " There was not 
in the sayde forte at the tyme of the rendition of the 
same, to this examinate's knowledge, any victuals save 
only one tubb of bitter roots." 

It was not until 1632 that Quebec was restored to 
the French by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, and 
during its three years of English occupancy the point 
had made no progress. The Indians did not like their 
rough, new associates and trade had languished. Even 
the fort was in sad condition. 

The summer of 1632 saw the little settlement in 
French hands and under the guidance of Emery de 
Caen, a fiery French Huguenot. The next year found 
the colony once more in the direction of the veteran 
Champlain. It is not clear why de Caen was given 

75 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



power for this one year. On Christmas Day, 1635, the 
Father of New France passed peacefully away in the 
fort which had seen so many of his earthly activities. 
His body was laid to rest in a " chambre particulier," 
according to old record. Late investigation inclines to 
the belief that Champlain's last resting place was a 
niche hollowed out of the stone half way down IVIountain 
Hill in full view of the strand on which his early 
** Habitation " was built. 

The successor of Champlain, M. de Montmagny, a 
Knight of Malta, rebuilt of stone Champlain's fort 
shortly after his arrival in 1636, and Castle St. Louis 
had now a most martial appearance. Close to the castle 
was the Jesuit presbytery, this close conjunction of 
church and Mars well typifying the union of powers 
which held authority in the colony. All public functions 
were religious in character and the black-robed priests 
held the balance of power in the council-room. 

Throughout the quarter century following Cham- 
plain's death the threat of Iroquois marauding hung 
over the little city and in 1660 Castle St. Louis wit- 
nessed a strange spectacle. It was the burning at the 
stake by the French of an Iroquois captive as a retalia- 
tion against the savages for their outrages. The Indian 
met his fate with fortitude, but reviled his captors un- 
ceasingly and predicted a dire future for the city. At 
length death put an end to his sufferings and his pre- 
dictions. His spirit, according to the priests who were 

76 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 



standing by, winged its way to the place of the re- 
deemed, having been freed from sin by the fiery ordeal 
through which its body had passed. 

Time went its way and brought the second siege of 
Quebec to Castle St. Louis. The bold and impetuous 
Frontenac was now at the helm of state and it was due 
to a three-headed expedition of his against the English 
colonies that this second siege was brought about. In- 
cidentally, this expedition may be looked upon in 
another light as the opening blow in that long struggle 
between New France and New England which was to 
result in the extinguishing of the latter power in the 
New World. Three war parties set out from the forti- 
fications at Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers. The 
first reached the Dutch settlement of Corlaer (Sche- 
nectady) on the Hudson and brought about the horrible 
and historic Schenectady massacre. In similar fashion 
the other parties fell upon towns in New England. The 
northern English colonies which had hitherto been kept 
asunder by jealousies united against a common foe and 
equipped an expedition which was to set forth from 
Massachusetts against Quebec. 

The vessels of the fleet consisted of thirty-two ships 
ranging in size from the Six Friends, a roisterer of the 
seas which had been engaged in the dangerous West 
India trade, and mounted forty-four guns, to humble 
fishing smacks. The conmiander was William Phips, 
afterward Sir William Phips, a strange favorite of 

77 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Fortune whose adventurous and large-fisted career 
carried him through gold-seeking in the Spanish Main, 
knighthood from the British Crown, and the gover- 
norship, by royal appointment, of Massachusetts. 
Volunteers were called for and nearly four thousand 
men responded to the call. Provisions were laid in 
for four months and all was ready for the start. * 

After waiting so long in Boston for help from Eng- 
land that winter was almost at hand, Sir William at 
length gave the order to sail and the New England 
armada was launched upon its career. Its only lacks 
were a pilot who knew the St. Lawrence River, a 
sufficiency of gunpowder and a commander competent 
to direct the expedition. The eventual failure of the 
undertaking was not hard to forecast. 

The fleet anchored a little below Quebec in the 
autumn of 1690. Frontenac was ready and waiting for 
it. A messenger was sent from the fleet to the French 
governor demanding surrender. He was taken in a 
canoe to the landing place and blindfolded. Then he 
was directed up the steep streets and crooked stairs of 
the little city by a devious path to Castle St. Louis 
where Frontenac, with his aides in full uniform, was 
waiting to receive him. During his progress onward 
he was jostled and pushed to make him think that there 
were immense crowds of people in the little city, and 
hoarse orders were shouted near his ear to imaginary 
soldiery. At length he stood in the council-room of our 

78 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 



little fort and the bandage was taken from his eyes. The 
scene of splendor before him at first filled him with con- 
fusion, but he quickly recovered poise and delivered his 
message. 

" No," returned Frontenac, " I will answer your 
general only by the mouths of cannon, that he may learn 
that a man like me is not to be summoned in this fashion. 
Let him do his best and I will do mine! " 

During the short and futile siege which followed, 
the cannonading between the vessels of Sir William's 
fleet and the French fortification was so terrific that 
experienced military officers declared that they had 
heard nothing like it. At length the besiegers sailed 
away baffled and the furious little fort grumbled down 
to another season of peace. Phips reached Boston 
in November, and the rest of his fleet straggled in one 
by one, such as were not lost in the storms of the perilous 
Nova Scotia coast. Frontenac, in celebration of the 
deliverance of Quebec, established the little church of 
Notre Dame de la Victoire which stands in Quebec as a 
memorial of those days. 

The beginning of the eighteenth century saw the 
fortifications of Quebec strengthened and enlarged. 
Vauban, the great engineer, furnished the plans which 
were carried out under Frontenac's personal supervision. 
For twenty leagues around, the habitants were pressed 
into service and even the gentlefolk of the colony volun- 
teered for work with pick and spade, so eager was the 

79 * 



guAiN r AM) Hisrouu' Fours 



st'iitinu ut to carry out \'aubaii's plans. A line ot* solid 
earth>\oiks was exteiuitxl i>n the tlank of the city from 
Cape Diamond to the St. Charles Kiver, and now for 
the first time the smnmit of Cape Diamond was fortiticvl, 
this reiloubt with sixteen cannon being the foundation of 
the present-day citadel of Quebec. In the foundation 
of the new work a copper plate, discovereil at the tle- 
molition of the old walls in 185-t, was buritxl bearing the 
following inscription: 

III the year of grace 1693 under the reign of the Most 
August, Most Invincible and Most Christian King, Louis the 
Great, Fourteenth of that name, the most Excellent and Most 
Illustrious Lord, Louis de Buade, CVunt of Frontenac, twice 
viceroy of all New France, after having three years before re- 
pulsed, routeil and completely conquered the rebellious inhabi- 
tants of New England, who besieged this town of Quebec and 
who threatened to renew the attack this year, constructeil, at 
the charge of the King, this citadel, with the fortitications 
therewith conuecteil, for the defence of the country and the 
safety of the people and for confounding yet again a people 
perfidious towards God and towards its lawful king. And he 
has laid this tirst stone. 

In 1709 the stunly colonists of New England 
planne<l another expedition against Quebec. This time 
the home goverimient had promiseil to help. But 
arrangements were delayeil and it became late aiitmnn 
before the expeilition was ready to set out. Lender 
the circmnstances a tight against the frigid winter of 

80 



THi iiJJGHTS OP QUEBEC 



C.'jli .- 

'J.. . -'■'■'';/ .'.'jfi ihf: \i\Xlf: City U/r^k [;!'?/•'- 'n 

J7JJ, /'.'. , : jfider A/lmiral Sir ii. .. . j 

V\'aJk':r /:t. -ajj froru iio:V.rj on thft 3<>th of July. Jfnder 

J/J ';ijf-':':-.-; t/j t.ij': Jint,j;:}j arm<l, but A/l/rjjfaJ VV'aik':r 
'/:o/7j':d ' '; :-..:. '\ '' ' JH big frigatfc* OU V^ r<:/;k- 

J^-,-;Jy ajij.w .-. ■•.!.': 'l'-.!i.-. . 'A «iharp f:^:^-: ',^ ^''-•',-- 

fou/jdJa/j'-J, t,}jat. '-A'J^A. \>::X\. //(-.T': \j':-:.\' ^ r '- '■ ■ 

\)y y\\': v/av':'; ;i.u<\ r</:V.::. \\.^' ■..'■. \. .:.:. '-j\ and ':i;/hty- 
four p':opJ':, thirty- four of t.h';rrj v/<)Ui':ri, v/'-jf; d. 
AdrruraJ V\'aJk':r ':aj]':d i^rrtjifiinkjusiy ba/;k to J'... ■,.;., 
arjd in Qufrfj*:': t.hr: hapjjv l'r<:ri'}: 

t.}jf:Jr Jjt.t.Jf: f:hiJf:}j of \ot.r<: iJa;/j': 'j': ,--. v ,■.•:/.,;<: V. >,;..3,r, 
of Notn: l)hA(i': '1>:'> VifX/j'\r<-/:. 

Yet tijf: ;>':;■•.; -.Vrrj^;': of U/: K/j;^;]. ;J'j v/a'; at J':rjcrhh to 
havf: its way. J/j J 7:^0 tij': walJ.S of QiJ';!'j-f;0 v/frf: <:Tj- 
\:i.r'^f:(\ arid //jad'; rrjj^/fjtj'rr, and th^: ^•Jtad^:l, hiS'^jzly in 
th': forrj-j in v,hJch it exJst'^ to-<iay, wa . '■.-:.V:d. V'aij/1- 
/■';ijil, th': Ja'.t yo'/'':rnor of .Vf:v/ J-'rar//:,, jo yi.' . ,- 

f:laJr/j':d tfjat tli'; 1";^^// v/a'. .;;.p;f;crrja:>.':. Jo JT^ ; 

tho f:xp':djtion of VV'oJf': aoraJn'-^t Quf;^'•:^^ th*--. fjr:a. o jV 
cornf: of v/hJ'-;J'j arjd th': n)f:tfjod of atv .".h Wolfe's 

h':roi^; d':at)-j on tl-jf; \*\ .;., .. .;. .-/.ry th^at 

every fi(:\\()<)\\K)y knov/i. 

This confiict ■ ' ' h th^: ciUAf-A took 

part. TT-j': rni^y. ._- -../.. wj ....... V^'iMdro-|JJJ tni-Md 

f. hi 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



so loudly had been overcome on their first trial, while 
the high-perched, precariously-placed Httle " Castle," 
which Chaniplain had first built and which liis successors 
had altered to suit their times, had withstood umimier- 
able Indian attacks and had seen three assaults by 
Europeans fail against it. The spirit of the men who 
manned the forts had changed with their times. 

There is another tale of siege and Quebec which is 
not widely f amihar and yet which all Americans should 
know. It is the story of ^Montgomery's expedition 
during the Revolution — an expedition in which he lost 
his hfe and in which Benedict Arnold played a conspicu- 
ous part. 

Richard Montgomer}' was a lieutenant in Wolfe's 
army and was thorouglily familiar with Quebec. At the 
outbreak of the War of Independence he was deputized 
to lead an army up the Hudson and by the familiar ap- 
proach along the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence 
to Quebec. Benedict Arnold led another force through 
the tangled forests of northern Elaine and Xew Hamp- 
shire, reaching Quebec ahead, even, of ^Montgomery. 
The combined forces laid siege to the city through the 
winter, and in the most desperate assault of all, one 
in wliich Wolfe's feat of scahng the chff was attempted, 
^lontgomen,' lost his life. After six months the United 
States troops departed, confessing failure. 

From that time to this the military' histor^^' of 
Quebec has been uneventful. In the early part of the 

82 



THE HEIGHTS OF QUEBEC 



nineteenth century old Castle St. Louis, which had 
stood so many storms and assaults, succumbed to fire. 
The site is now an open square with some relics and a 
fine view over the river. 

The great citadel of Quebec rises three hundred 
and fifty feet above the river and covers nearly forty 
acres. The portion of the works overlooking the St. 
Lawrence is called the Grand Batterj'', while the sur- 
mounting pinnacle of the citadel is known as the King's 
Bastion. From the King's Bastion a most glorious 
panorama is spread out before one, embracing the city, 
the great river, hundreds of miles of forest and farm 
land, the Laurentian mountains in the distance in one 
direction and the green hills of Vermont far away in 
another. 

All of the old works of Quebec have been retired 
from active service in a mihtary sense. The city is 
protected by modem fortifications in other quarters. 

Two memorials record two great events in the his- 
tory of the citadel. The chief is the Wolfe-Montcalm 
monument erected just behind the Dufferin Terrace 
in a little green enclosure known as the Governor's 
Garden. The second is a simple tablet set up in the 
face of the cliff on the river-front below the citadel, 
marking the spot where the United States General 
Montgomerj^ fell in the winter of 1775. 






FORT ANNAPOLIS ROYAL 

ANNAPOLIS— .VNNAPOLIS BASIN. NOVA SCOTIA 




ORE by accident than by design 
the Sieur de Monts, in 1604, with 
his oddly assorted band of adven- 
turers on the foggy Bay of Fundy, 
steered into the rocky entrance 
which leads into the beautiful land- 
locked basin of present-day Annap- 
olis in Nova Scotia. One of his followers, the Baron 
de Potrincourt, was so enchanted by the beauty of the 
scene that he asked a grant of land here. This was 
given him, and upon this land in the next year he built 
himself first a fort, then a house, and then several more 
houses. This was the beginning of Port Royal, now 
known as Annapolis, the second oldest fortified place 
in the Western Hemisphere. 

The voyager to-day may repeat de Monts's experi- 
ence and with no design to do that, too. Fogs wrap 
the eastern and western coasts of Nova Scotia in an 
impenetrable blanket most of the time. The traveller 
who sails, — let us say, — from St. Johns, New Bruns- 
wick, for the Annapolis Basin, crosses sparkling waters, 
and then, as he enters the mountainous cleft which gives 
entrance to this beautiful bay, comes into the belt of 
mist which obscures all of the coast. He hears the fog 
horn on the point at the entrance, — which de Monts 
did not hear, — and then suddenly, like an apparition, 

81 






f 



FORT ANNAPOLIS ROYAL 



the land looms into view; there is a lane of shrouded, 
uncertain water, between towering misty headlands; 
and, then, he is beyond the mists. Annapolis Basin, 
bright and blue with soft clouds overhead, like a high- 
land lake, lies before him. At the far head of the Basin, 
where the delicate horizon merges into the sky, is 
Annapolis. It is not hard to understand Potrincourt's 
enthusiasm for this beautiful spot. It is hard to under- 
stand how de Monts himself could have passed over 
this locality in favor of the barren Isle St. Croix for 
his first settlement, for this is what he did. 

The winter of 1604 was passed by the little coloniz- 
ing expedition at St. Croix — the sandy island which is 
now the boundary line between Canada and Maine. 
Potrincourt went back to France with de Monts to 
secure supplies and settlers for his own pet project, 
whose setting was Annapolis Basin, and returned with 
his chief in June, 1605, to find that the companions they 
had left behind them at St. Croix had had a sorry winter. 
The whole settlement was then moved over to Potrin- 
court's Port Royal. This was the beginning of 
Annapolis. 

The makeup of de Monts's expedition was thor- 
oughly typical of the colonizing bodies sent out by 
France in that day. There were men of the noblest 
blood of France, of whom our Potrincourt was a con- 
spicuous example, and there was, also, the sweeping of 
the ofFscouring of the most dissolute cities of the Old 

85 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



World. The motives which inspired these different 
men were no doubt as mixed as the character of the 
men and as pleasant a theme of speculation, but with 
this we will have nothing to do. The second winter 
of de Monts's adventurers, even at sheltered Annapolis, 
was severe, and it was with joy that the men saw the 
spring of 1606 arrive and bring with it the little ship 
from France which annually brought supplies and new 
blood from the Old World. 

In this ship there was one arrival who must be given 
a special consideration. A poet-lawyer, — a strange com- 
bination, at that, — Marc Lescarbot eventually was to 
write his name in fame as the author of one of the 
earliest histories of New France, one of the most au- 
thentic records in existence of the early adventures of 
the French in the New World ; but in our regard of him 
now we must consider the high spirit and bold emprise 
which he brought with him to cheer his companions and 
to help them through the rigors of this early settle- 
ment. A rhymester of some skill, he tuned his lyre to 
the most trivial events to keep his associates in good 
spirits, and in this last endeavor displayed an ingenuity 
which cannot help but endear him to all generations 
which like brave deeds done in blithe ways. He organ- 
ized the Ordre de la Bon Temps, the only requirements 
for membership in which were presence in the little 
colony, and the duties of whose members were on suc- 
cessive days to provide a banquet for their brethren. 

86 



FORT ANNAPOLIS ROYAL 



There was formality attached to the office, too. Theat- 
rical masques were gotten up and odd tasks were devised 
for all Knights of the Merry Time. Lescarbot infused 
a brave spirit into even the most dreary of the odd crew 
which made up this colony. We can picture the merry 
adventurers in their rude little fort engaged in their 
pranks of drollery thousands of miles away from home 
and with inhospitable wilderness and bleak shores for 
environs. 

The charter of the colony was revoked in 1607, by 
one of those pleasing inconsistencies of royalty which 
inspire in the student of the past so thorough a belief 
in the theory of the divine right of kings, and the brave 
Order of the Merry Time to a man, with retainers and 
family vessels, embarked upon the skittish little vessels 
in which they entrusted themselves to the Atlantic and 
sailed back to France. It was not for three years that 
any of them returned, but in 1610 perseverance on de 
Potrincourt's part had triumphed over royal pudding- 
headedness once more, and in that year he came back 
again to his colony. It is related that he found every- 
thing in Port Royal exactly as he had left it, not a lock 
or a bar in the little fort having been disturbed by the 
Indians, who displayed, in addition to their honesty, 
another engaging trait of fidelity to friendship by the 
many manifestations of joy which they made at having 
with them again their friends, the Frenchmen. Not 
again was Port Royal to be entirely deserted. 

87 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



In 1613 the Jesuits of Port Royal, a class to them- 
selves, abandoned the place and attempted the settle- 
ment of a picturesque inlet on Mount Desert Island 
on the coast of present-day Maine, their inlet still bear- 
ing the name of Frenchmen's Bay. The freebooting 
Argall, a piratical seafarer from the new colony of 
Virginia far south on the Atlantic Coast, heard of this 
settlement and descended upon it in force. Most of 
the French were killed after a brave but ineffectual 
resistance, and fire and axe were given to their settle- 
ment. In the following year this Argall heard of the 
presence of Port Royal, for news travelled slowly in 
those days, and proceeded against that point after com- 
pleting his work of pillage at Mount Desert and St. 
Croix. Taking the little place by surprise with a 
superior force, he scattered the inhabitants, burned the 
village, and razed the fort to the ground. Potrincourt, 
a survivor, returned to France and fell fighting at the 
siege of Mery in the following year. 

From this time until the signing of the treaty of 
St. Germain-en-Laye in 1632, Port Royal and Acadia 
were held in the hands of the British, and during this 
time occurred that odd experiment of Sir William 
Mackenzie to make of Acadia a New Scotland or 
Caledonia. The Scottish knight obtained the concession 
of the Acadian peninsula from King James in 1621 and 
founded a colony on the site or very near the site of 
Port Royal, building a fort at this point. Charles I 

88 



FORT ANNAPOLIS ROYAL 



renewed the charter granted by his predecessor, and 
created an order of minor nobihty known as the Knights 
Baronets of Nova Scotia. It became Mackenzie's idea 
to estabhsh in the New Caledonia the feudal institutions 
of the Old World. His colony was not a success even 
during its short life, and in 1632 Port Royal passed by 
treaty to the French, thus putting an end effectually 
to New Caledonia and its Knights Baronets of the 
dissolute Charles's erection. 

The see-saw between French and English was once 
more to incline in the English favor as regards Acadia. 
The cession of this peninsula to the French had always 
been looked on with disfavor by the New England 
colonists, because it gave their hereditary enemies a 
secure base from which to send out privateering ex- 
peditions against their shipping. In 1654, Cromwell 
the Protector dispatched a force to ensure the subjuga- 
tion of the Dutch on the Island of Manhattan. Peace 
with Holland was concluded by England before this 
purpose was effected, and it was then determined to 
turn these arms to the reconquest of Acadia. An ex- 
pedition was accordingly fitted out secretly in Massa- 
chusetts and dispatched upon its mission. The French 
forts on the Penobscot and at St. John were speedily 
reduced. Le Borgne was at Port Royal with one hun- 
dred and fifty men but he attempted little resistance 
and the post once more came into English possession. 

89 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Until 1667 Port Royal was in the hands of the 
English, and then by the Treaty of Breda the whole of 
Acadia was returned to the French. During their 
occupancy the English had spent large sums repairing 
the fortifications in Acadia under their control, and in 
this undertaking the importance of Port Royal was 
duly recognized. 

For the next generation the French made Port 
Royal their base, and the place acquired an evil reputa- 
tion with the Enghsh because of the marauding sea 
expeditions which proceeded from out of there. Finally, 
in 1690, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts raised a 
levy and empowered Sir William Phips to go against 
the ancient stronghold. This doughty gentleman was 
successful in his mission and the port was in English 
hands again — this time hands of destruction. 

After the departure of their enemies the French 
rebuilt Port Royal and it became, once more, a busy 
shipping point and the haunt of privateers. It is not 
difficult to-day to appreciate the fine strategic value of 
Port Royal, set at the head of its beautiful landlocked 
basin, but it is difficult, to-day, as the river now stands, 
to appreciate how vessels of any burthen could go up to 
its wharves. But at that time, doubtless, the river had 
not filled up to the degree that it has to-day. 

In 1704 and again in 1705, the pertinacious New 
Englanders went upon futile expeditions against Port 
Royal, each time being driven off without much loss 

90 



FORT ANNAPOLIS ROYAL 



and each time evincing a singular lack of spirit in their 
enterprise, a lack of spirit all the more remarkable 
when one considers the undertakings which they faced 
and carried through at other times in their history. The 
taking of Port Royal seems to have become a sort of 
obsession with them — a theme for an idle hour, a pet 
worry which they would take up when all other worries 
failed them. Finally, in 1710, before the onslaught of a 
combined force of Her Majesty Queen Anne's soldiery 
and New England militia, Port Royal fell to the Eng- 
hsh for the last time, bravely and gallantly fighting 
against overwhelming odds. Its spirited commandant, 
M. Subercase, with a famished army of one hundred 
and fifty men, marched out through the ranks of three 
thousand five hundred enemies and the red flag of 
England was raised where the white one of France had 
flown. Port Royal was renamed Annapolis in honor 
of the English sovereign, and Colonel Vetch, with four 
hundred and fifty men, occupied the fort. Though it 
was endangered by French arms several times there- 
after, the httle fort was never again out of English 
possession. 

The sod ramparts of the fort have been carefully 
maintained and are to-day the cherished possession of 
Annapolis — or Annapolis Port Royal, as its inhabitants, 
making an odd mixture of its names, prefer to call it. 
From them one may gaze down the placid little river 
over a scene very like that upon which its French and 

91 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



English commanders looked on their separate turns and 
different generations. It is difficult really to visualize 
the events through which the little fort has passed, but 
if one considers that its history goes as far back beyond 
the days of the American Revolution as the beginning 
of the twentieth century comes this side of the Revolu- 
tion, one begins to perceive how big is its historical back- 
ground as events go in America. 

The officers' quarters, — a quaint, sturdy, low build- 
ing, — and the magazine are still standing in the fort 
at Port Royal, both very ancient and very suggestive 
edifices, neither one as ancient as the walls of the little 
fort. 



4^ 



y 



THE CITADEL AT HALIFAX 

NOVA SCOTIA 




HE province of Acadia had been 
in English possession for nearly 
half a century when, in 1749, the 
powers that were in the Mother 
Country decided that Annapolis, 
the little game-cock city of the 
peninsula, whose history went 
back to 1605, was not a fitting place for the capital 
of the province. Its harbor, while beautiful and se- 
cure, was not large enough for the purposes that Eng- 
land had in mind; moreover, it was on the western 
side of the peninsula, so that to get to it from Europe 
one must pass around Cape Sable and up the foggy 
Bay of Fundy. And so we find that the home author- 
ities projected a new city, which was to be the capital 
of the province and whose location was to be the 
magnificent harbor of Chebucto on the east coast of 
Acadia. That they did not go astray in their antici- 
pations of the future is proved by the present-day 
Halifax, Nova Scotia's principal city, the child of the 
plans of these Englishmen of 1749. 

The value of Chebucto as a harbor had been known 
for many years before this time, we may assume. It 
had been for many years a rendezvous for British ves- 
sels in American waters. When D'Anville's misfor- 
tuned fleet of French men-of-war was scattered by 

93 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the elements, its remnants came together in Chebucto 
Bay. That there was some form of settlement on the 
shores of the bay ere this time is highly probable, but 
the existence of human life in any organized form here, 
if such existence there was, has been completely over- 
shadowed in retrospect by the magnitude of the enter- 
prise by which the present-day Halifax was founded. 

As a consequence of its last war there were in 
England numbers of young and able-bodied men set 
suddenly at liberty who had been engaged in military 
or semi-military pursuits. Liberal inducements were 
offered these people to go to the projected metropolis. 
A free passage, maintenance for a year was promised, 
and grants of land varying from fifty to six hundred 
acres were given. The Imperial Government voted the 
sum of forty thousand pounds to help defray ex- 
penses. This sum was increased to four hundred thou- 
sand pounds before five years had passed. The Hon. 
Edward Cornwallis was appointed and the protection 
of British institutions and laws was promised. 

The fleet on which the colony set sail entered Che- 
bucto Bay in the month of July, 1749. There were 
thirteen transports, conveying nearly three thousand 
settlers. These were men of good stock, and the vigor 
with which they attacked the problems before them was 
sufficient evidence of this fact. Streets were promptly 
laid out, a civil government was organized, and the 
entire population got to work on the practical issue 

94 



I 

I 



THE CITADEL AT HALIFAX 



of providing shelter for themselves and their families. 
Houses were built, and, last, but not least, in that day 
and generation a fort was erected on the rounded top 
of the hill around which they had plotted their town. 
This was the forerunner of the citadel of Halifax of 
to-day. Around the entire settlement was built a high 
palisade. 

The early history of Halifax did not include sieges 
or sustained attacks by an enemy, but it was in the 
atmosphere of unrest and conflict from its first days. 
While the French residents of Acadia had not been 
molested in their possession of land in Nova Scotia, 
they had never taken the oath of allegiance to England. 
Among them were many turbulent spirits who incited 
the Micmac Indians of the country to outrages against 
English people and who took part in these outrages 
themselves in the disguise of savages. Moreover, the 
French had pressed the boundaries of Canada as close 
to the boundaries of Acadia as they dared, and they 
continually tried to foment ill feeHng amidst the simple 
Acadian peasants against the English. The story of 
the days between the conquest of Acadia by the English 
and the final peace between France and England in 
the New World is one of partisan warfare, of forays 
and minor sieges and attacks by land and water. 

All of these things went on around Halifax, and 
enemy vessels even slipped into her harbor in bold 
dashes upon rich covey or unsuspecting foe. From 

95 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Halifax went forth Lawrence at the order of Gov- 
ernor CornwalHs to oppose the French at Beasejour, 
now Cumberland, where the French had built a fort 
on what they claimed was their own ground. Lawrence 
built another fort on the opposite side of the little 
stream of Missigouache, which the French claimed to 
be the boundary between the rival domains, and went 
back to Halifax for reinforcements. His building the 
fort was opposed by the French skirmish, and the blood 
shed in this little skirmish was the first blood to flow 
in combat between France and England in Old World 
or New since the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. 

In the council rooms of the citadel at Halifax the 
order to deport the French peasantry, or Acadians, was 
debated. From the government house here went forth 
the orders that this act should be done. The story of 
the deportation of the Acadians and of their sufferings 
has been told many times in prose and very beautifully 
by Longfellow in verse. 

During the American Revolution and during the 
War of 1812, Halifax was the centre of activity of the 
British naval forces, and so it has continued to this day. 
During the War of the Revolution and the War of 
1812 merchant vessels were brought to this port to be 
sold as prizes. During the great European war of this 
time of writing merchant vessels suspected of carrying 
contraband and seized by the British in the American 

96 



THE CITADEL AT HALIFAX 



Atlantic waters have been taken to Halifax to be passed 
on by a prize court. 

The citadel of Halifax is not one of its prime de- 
fences to-day. It has become more of a public park 
than a strong arm for battle. From its walls magnifi- 
cent views of the harbor of Halifax can be obtained, 
one of the most splendid harbors in the world, to-day as 
stimulating to enterprise as in the days when Chebucto 
Bay was cast for the part of a great port by the Lords 
of Trade of England. 



FORT GEORGE 

CASTINE— MAINE 




HE little town of Castine, on the 
Penobscot River, Maine, is a 
favorite resort for summer 
visitors, who are attracted by its 
fine air, its abundance of sea 
food, and its accessibility to the 
interior of the country. These 
same considerations together with the fine strategic 
location of Castine Peninsula at the head of Penob- 
scot Bay, guarding the entrance to the Penobscot 
River, influenced the French adventurers of three hun- 
dred and more years ago to plant their settlement of 
Pentagoet and to build a fort in this very vicinity. 
Traditions of the settlement and grass-covered ruins 
of the fort are still to be discovered at Castine. 

In the course of the years there came here the British 
at war with the colonies, and His Majesty's forces built 
Fort George, an important post in its day and one 
of the best preserved Revolutionary works in New 
England. These ruins are the scene of pilgrimage 
of hundreds of people annually — merry parties from 
the summer colonies which dot the shores of Penobscot 
Bay or from Mount Desert Island, around the corner 
as the land lies from Castine. 

The remains of Fort George might even to-day be, 
with no disproportionate labor, put into condition for 

98 



FORT GEORGE 



defence. The fort was a square bastioned work pro- 
tected by a moat excavated down to solid rock. Each 
bastion was pierced with four embrasures. Though no 
buildings now remain inside the fortress, the position 
of the barracks, magazine and guard-house may easily 
be traced. 

Standing on the ruined wall of Fort George, one 
can easily discern in what features lay its strength and 
importance. The approach on three sides is by steep 
ascents, and especially is this the case to the south or 
seaward, the quarter from which attack might be ex- 
pected. The shape of the peninsula is seen. Very 
similar to the peninsula on which Portland is situated, 
it is a large swollen heart of land hung to the mainland 
by a cord from the north. To the south the eye has a 
wide prospect, bounded in the distance by the blue 
mountains of the Camden range. To the west is 
Brigadier's Island, and blue water where Belfast lies 
in the distance. To the north Fort Point can be seen 
with the granite walls of the never-completed Fort 
Pownall, begun by Governor Pownall in 1759. North 
of east is more water and the distant solitary Blue Hill. 

The military history of Fort George reflects no 
great credit on American sagacity, though it throws 
into strong light the national aggressive spirit. The 
first four years of the American Revolution passed very 
peacefully in Maine (then a part of Massachusetts), 
though its hardy seamen and backwoodsmen were not 

99 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



backward in joining the fighting forces to the south. 
Then, in 1779, the British powers in Halifax decided 
to carry the war into the northern colonies. Accord- 
ingly, in June of that year. Colonel Francis INl'Lean 
was despatched from the aforesaid port with nine hun- 
dred men to seize and fortify the well-known peninsula 
of Castine or, as it was then known, Penobscot Penin- 
sula. He landed on the 12th of June, and with great 
energy commenced to establish himself firmly in his 
position. 

The news was immediately carried to the jNIassa- 
chusetts fathers at Boston. Hancock was then Gov- 
ernor and General Gates commanded the Eastern De- 
partment of the colonies, with headquarters at Provi- 
dence. With that cocksureness for which the Puritan 
colony has been distinguished since its foundation, the 
rulers of Massachusetts at Boston put their heads to- 
gether without notifying Gates, the Continental Con- 
gress, or the leaders of the war in this countiy, and 
resolved to push an expedition against INI 'Lean. An 
embargo of forty days was put upon vessels in Massa- 
chusetts ports, so that transport possibilities could not 
put to sea, and a large land and naval force was raised. 
The army was commanded by Solomon Lovell; 
the fleet by Captain Saltonstall of the Warren, a fine 
frigate of thirty-two guns. Peleg Wadsworth was 
second in command to Lovell, and Paul Revere, of 
Longfellow's poem, was in charge of the artillery. The 

100 



FORT GEORGE 



land forces numbered about twelve hundred men, and 
this number might be augmented by three himdred 
marines from the fleet. There were enough guns of 
large calibre and other supplies of war. The fleet was 
formidable in appearance and equipment, but it was 
entirely lacking in discipline and co-ordination, as was 
shortly to be seen. 

The force appeared off Castine on the 25th of July, 
1779, and found the foii; unfinished and thoroughly 
unprepared for defence. M'Lean despatched mes- 
sengers to Halifax for aid, and kept busily on with 
his defences. Two bastions had not been begun and 
the two remaining, with the curtains, had not been raised 
more than four or five feet. Captain Mowatt, a thor- 
oughly-hated British naval officer, and the bombarder 
of defenceless Portland, was in the harbor with three 
light vessels with which he took position to prevent a 
landing on the south side of the peninsula. A deep 
trench was cut across the isthmus connecting with the 
mainland. 

No landing could be made except beneath the pre- 
cipitous bluff, two hundred feet high, on the west. 

On the third day the Americans succeeded in land- 
ing and in securing a position on the heights. Instead 
of making a final assault upon the unfinished fort now, 
however, they dallied where they stood, threw up earth- 
works and fought out a wordy battle amongst them- 
selves as to how to go ahead. The commanding officers 

101 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



disagreed on any one plan, so, finally, at this late date, 
they appealed to General Gates for instructions. Two 
weeks passed and Sir George Collier arrived with a 
British fleet to relieve his beleaguered countrymen. The 
Americans were obliged to take to their heels. 

General Wadsworth retired to his home near Thom- 
aston, not a great distance from Castine, and was cap- 
tured by a British detachment sent out from the fort 
for the purpose. His escape from the fort with a com- 
panion, Major Burton, is one of the interesting minor 
episodes of the history of that point. Suffice it to say 
that General Wadsworth on a dark night managed to 
get over the walls by the aid of a torn blanket and 
reached the mainland. Eventually he made Portland 
and safety. 

For the remainder of the Revolution the British 
were at Castine, from whence they went forth on many 
expeditions of depredation. The loss of this little 
peninsula became a serious consideration, indeed, to the 
Americans. 

During the War of 1812 Castine once more became 
a British stronghold, when, in 1814, the American de- 
fenders gave up the post to a force which made it a 
centre for plundering coast towns east and west, levying 
forced contributions, and destroying ship-yards. At 
this time Bangor was taken, Belfast visited, and Hamp- 
den pillaged. After a stay of eleven months the British 
left Castine in April, 1815. In the neighborhood of the 

102 



FORT GEORGE 



fort they left a reputation for gayety, their stay having 
included a round of balls, teas, and dinners. 

The history of Castine as a fortified point under 
New France commences with the re-occupation of 
Acadia, Nova Scotia, under Richelieu's strong direction. 
Castine, or Pentagoet, as the French called it, was an 
extreme outpost against the English and was to be 
maintained at all costs. In 1654, however, it fell to the 
conquering hand of Sedgwick, a Massachusetts officer 
who reduced all French posts in Acadia. Sedgwick 
describes it as a small well-planned work mounting 
eight guns. It was not until 1670 that the French flag 
was again unfurled over Pentagoet, and, at this time, 
it is shown in old records that the place was considerably 
enlarged and strengthened, only to fall, in 1674, to 
buccaneers from San Domingo, who carried oiF 
Chambly, the commander, and held him to ransom. 

The next Frenchman whom we find at Pentagoet 
was that strange product of sophistication and savagery, 
the Baron St. Castine. Vincent, Baron St. Castine, 
came to America with his regiment in 1665, and the 
wild life of the great forests seems to have called him 
from the first. When his regiment was disbanded 
shortly after its arrival in this country, Castine plunged 
into the forests and took up life in the fashion that the 
Indians lived it. He joined the tribe of the Abenakis, 
a mighty people of that day, and become so high in 
their favor that he married the daughter of the chief, 

103 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Madocawando, an implacable foe of the English. In 
1685 we find Castine in command at Pentagoet with 
his dusky followers around him. He never changed 
his wife, though we have reason to believe that, like 
Sir William Johnson, of later times, he found pleasure 
in many coppery enchantresses. Toward the close of 
this centmy his fort and trading post was captured and 
destroyed by the English, and the Baron himself, it is 
believed, returned to his native France. His half-breed 
son, by his Indian wife, for many years carried fire and 
sword against the English and was a picturesque figure 
in the wars of the Massachusetts border. 



r.<5 



FORT FREDERICK 

PEMAQUID— MAINE 




HE English clenched hand which 
answered the brandishing of the 
French mailed fist at Pentagoet, 
now Castine, was Fort Frederick 
at Pemaquid, that anciently- 
known peninsula which marks 
the entrance to the Kennebec 
River. Parts of the walls of old Fort Frederick are 
still standing, its entire outlines are plainly to be 
discerned, and it is a favorite point of visit with the 
many people who make their homes in this part of the 
Maine coast during the summer months. 

Pemaquid, itself, is one of those long arms of rock 
which are characteristic of the Maine coast. A good 
word picture of the locality has been painted by S. A. 
Drake, the chronicler of Maine coast history. " A belt 
of rusty red granite stretches around it above low water 
mark," he writes, " and out into the foaming breakers 
beyond. Pastures pallid from exhaustion and spotted 
with clumps of melancholy firs spread themselves out 
over this foundation. In the extreme corner of this 
threadbare robe there is a light-house. You look about 
you in vain for the evidences of long occupation which 
the historic vista has opened to you in advance." 

While there have been many wild reports that the 
settlement on Pemaquid antedated that on Massachu- 
setts Bay, itself, there is lacking weight of historical 

105 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



evidence to support this contention. Pemaquid was 
visited by Captain John Smith in 1614, but that 
doughty mariner makes no mention in his account of his 
visit of having seen any Europeans at the place, as he 
undoubtedly would have done had his vision encount- 
ered any such settlers. William Bradford, the con- 
scientious chronicler of early Plymouth doings, tells 
us that in 1623 " there were also in this year some scat- 
tered beginnings made at Pascataway by Mr. David 
Thompson, at Monhegan and some other places by 
sundry others," and it is very conceivable that Pemaquid 
Point might properly be included amongst these " some 
other " places. In 1625 we find Samoset, the famous 
chieftain of Pilgrim days, selling to a certain John 
Brown land at Pemaquid, the sign-manual Samoset 
used, according to his custom, being a bended bow with 
an arrow fitted to the string. 

In 1630 there were certainly the beginnings of a 
settlement at Pemaquid and the foundations of a for- 
tress. Shortly after this time the locality was visited by 
Dixy Bull, one of the freebooters of that day, who pil- 
laged the place in leisurely and thorough fashion. 
Another settlement was developed and this shared the 
fate of its predecessor during the evil days of King 
Philip's War. But the close of King Philip's War 
brought better days to Pemaquid, when the govern- 
ment of New York, under royal letters patent, assumed 
control of that place and constructed a strong timber 

106 



i 



FORT FREDERICK 



redoubt there with a bastioned outwork. This was to 
provide a rallying point for the frightened settlers. It 
was completed in 1677 and garrisoned by soldiers from 
New York. The fort was known as Fort Charles 
and the town around it, which was built up on the site 
of the old settlements, was known as Jamestown. 
Under the new regime a military government was estab- 
lished, of which the commandant of the post was the 
head. The free living inhabitants of the post were irked 
at being under strict martial rule. 

Under the terms of the Treaty of Breda, Acadia had 
been returned to France and with it Pentagoet (Cas- 
tine) and the possession of the Penobscot River. The 
French, in the general fashion which they affected, 
declared that the Kennebec and the country tributary 
thereto belonged to Acadia. This contention the Eng- 
lish disputed. We have, therefore, the rival powers at 
their two extreme outposts, — the French at Pentagoet 
and the English at Pemaquid, — in violent opposition to 
each other. 

In 1688, Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, made a sudden descent upon Castine, the 
town, and plundered the place. Castine, the man, in- 
cited his friends the Abenakis and soon had the border 
in a blaze. He planned a retaliatory descent upon 
Pemaquid. Spies were sent to New Harbor, an out- 
post of Pemaquid, and preparations were made to move 
in force. 

107 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



In August, 1689, the war party, led by Castine in 
person, landed on the eastern shore of Pemaquid Penin- 
sula without being discovered. The attack was planned 
with care. The main village lay about a quarter of a 
mile from the fort. The farms where most of the in- 
habitants were at work were three miles from the fort. 
One band of the assailants was to throw itself upon the 
fort and village, and another to cut off the village from 
the farms. 

The plan was carried out without a hitch. The men 
at the farms ran for the fort and were shot down or 
taken prisoners. The assailants next turned their atten- 
tion to the fort. The big rock in back of the fort, which 
makes so conspicuous a feature of the locality to-day, 
was occupied by savages, who fired down upon the de- 
fenders of the stronghold, and the attack was pressed 
fiercely from other quarters. For twenty-four hours 
Weems, the commander, held out. Then, when fourteen 
out of his garrison of thirty had been wounded, he sur- 
rendered on condition that the occupants should be free 
to leave unmolested. Fort and village were set on fire 
and Pemaquid for the second time had been swept out 
of existence. 

Under Sir William Phips, who acted by royal in- 
struction, Pemaquid was rebuilt and regarrisoned in 
1692. Unlike the old fortress, the new one was built 
of stone in a most substantial and enduring fashion, and 
so enlarged as to take in the high ledge of rock which 

108 



FORT FREDERICK 



had been the vulnerable point of the old defences. The 
new work was known as Fort William Henry. Cot- 
ton Mather, the indefatigable chronicler of that period, 
speaks of it as follows: 

William Henry was built of stone in a quadrangular figure, 
being about 737 foot in compass without the walls and 108 foot 
square within the inner ones. Twenty-eight ports it had and 
fourteen (if not eighteen) guns mounted, whereof six were 
eighteen-pounders. The wall on the south line, fronting to the 
sea, was twenty-two foot high and more than six foot thick at 
the ports, which were eight foot from the ground. The greater 
flanker, or round tower, at the western end of this line, was 
twelve foot high. The wall on the east line was twelve foot 
high, on the north it was ten, on the west it was eighteen. 

Impoverished Massachusetts demurred at having to 
pay the bills for the work, but Phips drove the State to 
meet the obligation. 

The ruler of New France at this time was the 
energetic and far-sighted Frontenac, who believed that 
he must reduce the new English fortress or himself 
lose his hold on his Indian allies. With character- 
istic promptness he set out about the task that he had 
visioned. Two ships and some hundreds of savages 
were despatched to take the fort. The fort had been 
forewarned through the heroism of a young New Eng- 
lander, John Nelson, who faced the Bastile or death 
by the headsman's hands to get word to his brethren in 

109 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



New England of the expected expedition. The gar- 
rison was on its guard and so the expedition miscarried. 

Frontenac was not the man to be put off with one 
reverse, however, as the New Englanders should have 
realized but did not. In August, 1696, Iberville, with 
two war-ships and a mixed force of French and Indians, 
appeared before Fort William Henry and took the 
garrison completely by surprise. 

There were about one hundred men in the fort 
under the command of Captain Pascho Chubb. Cas- 
tine and his Indians who are supposed to have landed 
at New Harbor, two miles away, set up entrenchments 
in the rear of the fortress (where the cemetery is), 
thus cutting off the garrison on the land side. Cannon 
were landed and batteries erected on adjacent shores 
and islands. With so much energy did the besiegers 
work that their batteries opened fire at three o'clock 
of the afternoon following the day on which they ap- 
peared before the fort. 

To the first summons to surrender Chubb returned 
a defiant answer, but when the first shells began to 
burst within his lines he seems to have lost his courage. 
Intimidated, in addition, by Iberville's threat to show 
no quarter if he persisted in resistance, he hastened 
to throw open his gates to the foe. The Indians, hard 
enough to keep in order, anyhow, found one of their 
race in irons in the prison of the fortress and imme- 
diately began a slaughter of the surrendered English. 

110 



FORT FREDERICK 



This outbreak was restrained with difficulty, and the 
Enghsh were loaded on ships and sent to Boston. 

Two days were consumed by the French in destroy- 
ing the fortifications at Pemaquid and they then set 
sail for St. John's River, narrowly escaping destruc- 
tion by a fleet sent out from Boston in pursuit. 

The next attempt to fortify Pemaquid was made 
in 1729, when Colonel Dunbar was sent over with a 
royal commission to rebuild the fort at the charge of 
the English crown. This work he set himself to with 
a right good will, and he called his fort Fort Frederick 
in honor of the Prince of Wales, father of George III. 
Fort Frederick stood until the opening of the Revo- 
lutionary War, when the inhabitants of Pemaquid de- 
stroyed the works rather than man them, advancing 
the unique argument that since the people were not 
strong enough to defend them they were a source of 
weakness rather than strength! 

That the inhabitants of this coast were not lack- 
ing in spirit is shown, however, by an incident of the 
War of 1812, which may be told here. The enemy's 
cruisers kept the whole coast in alarm because of their 
frequent depredations against defenceless points. One 
day one of these cruisers hove to in New Harbor and 
a barge fully manned put out for shore. A small 
militia force had been stationed by the Americans at 
old Fort Frederick and this force was hastily sum- 
moned. The English barge drew near. It was hailed 

111 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



by an old fisherman who warned the British officer 
not to attempt a landing. 

" If a gun is fired the whole town will be destroyed," 
replied the Britisher. 

Not a single gun, but a number of them, answered 
this threat. The rocks of the shore bristled with fowl- 
ing pieces and ducking-guns and all manner of fire- 
arms. The barge drifted helplessly to sea, its occu- 
pants badly wounded, and the master of the war-ship, 
after taking his helpless men on board, sailed away 
to Halifax. 

Old Fort Frederick, in 1814, saw the beginning of 
the historic combat between the vessels Boxer and the 
Enterprise, in which the Enterprise, U. S. A., com- 
manded by Lieutenant Burrows, was victorious. 



^ 



FORT NIAGARA 

AT MOUTH OF NIAGARA RIVER— NEW YORK 




HE main building of old Fort 
Niagara, " The Castle," is prob- 
ably the oldest piece of masonry 
in the State of New York, hav- 
ing been constructed by the 
French in 1726. The stone-work 
of the barracks, a structure 134 
by 24 feet with walls only eight feet in height, goes back 
to 1757, and in this year was, also, built the magazine. 
The bake-house, replacing a former one on the same site, 
was put up by the British in 1762 and the two stone 
block-houses by them in 1771 and 1773. 

In the two hundred and eighty-eight and a half 
acres of the government reservation here one is in touch 
visibly with the Past. And what deeds of the Past these 
old stone buildings might tell if they were given power 
of speech I 

The name Niagara is of Iroquois origin, as are so 
many names of New York State, and is of ancient ap- 
plication to the river and the falls which bear them. 
The falls of the Niagara are indicated on Champlain's 
map of 1632 and in 1648 are spoken of by the Jesuit 
Rugueneau as " a cataract of frightful height." It is 
certain that the indefatigable emissaries of the order of 
which he was a member had penetrated to the region 
of the great falls before this. In 1678 the falls were 

8 113 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



visited by the Friar Louis Hennepin, who drew a 
curious picture of them, still preserved, and gave a more 
curious and exaggerated description. 

In the year that the good Friar Hennepin was pay- 
ing his respects to Nature's great wonder, Robert 
Cavelier Sieur de la Salle was building his fort at Fron- 
tenac, now Kingston, Canada West, and in 1675 King 
Louis XIV, that brilliant and indefatigable monarch 
of France, whose legislative labors in opposition to race 
suicide in Canada justly earned him the title of the 
Father of Canada, bestowed upon our cavalier a large 
grant of land near his fort. La Salle, inspired by the 
brilliant discoveries of Marquette and Joliet in the 
region farther west than that wherein he had his baih- 
wick, determined to explore the lands south of Ontario 
and to connect the territories which he hoped thus to 
acquire with Quebec by means of a series of posts. Em- 
powered by his royal master with letters warrant to 
embark upon this form of enterprise, he crossed over 
Ontario, picked out a settlement point at, or near, the 
present Lewiston, New York, and commenced the build- 
ing of a small vessel on Cayuga Creek above the falls, 
the supplies for this vessel being carried from his little 
settlement near Lewiston, below the falls, and in the 
direction of his main base at Fort Frontenac. At the 
same time he commenced the construction of a small fort 
at the mouth of the Niagara River, which would guard 
the approaches to his work farther in the interior and 

114 



FORT NIAGARA 



would also serve as one of the chain of posts by which 
he hoped to secure to France the territory which he 
meant to acquire. 

This Httle fort on Niagara Point at the mouth of 
the Niagara River was kept up by La Salle during the 
remainder of his career in the New World, and was con- 
tinued by the Marquis de Nonville, Governor of New 
France, who, in 1687, raised it to the dignity of a " fort 
with four bastions." At this time it was in the command 
of Troyes with 100 men. Soon after this the little place 
was besieged by Senecas, and while the four bastions 
and the other defences beat off the savage foe, the gar- 
rison perished almost to a man from the ravages of dis- 
ease. Shortly after the point was abandoned and 
allowed to fall into decay. During the succeeding years 
of misfortune to the French the fort was filled only with 
weeds and vines and savage visitors, — early prototypes 
of present-day tourist throngs, — and it was not until 
1725 that the place was reoccupied and rehabilitated. 

From this time for many years Fort Niagara was a 
little city in itself and for a long time the greatest point 
south of Montreal or west of Albany. The fort, proper, 
covered about eight acres and had its ravines, ditches 
and pickets, curtains, counterscarps and covered way; 
stone-towers, laboratory and magazine ; mess-house, bar- 
racks, bakery and blacksmith shop. For worship there 
was a chapel with a large dial over the door to mark the 
course of the sun. " The dungeon of the mess-house, 

115 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



called the black hole, was a strong, dark, and dismal 
place; and in one corner of the room was fixed the ap- 
paratus for strangling such unhappy wretches as fell 
under the displeasure of the despotic rulers of those 
days. The walls of this dungeon, from top to bottom, 
had engraved upon them French names and mementos 
in that language. That the prisoners were no common 
persons was clear, as the letters and emblems were chis- 
elled out in good style." 

The immense strategic importance of the post was 
not lost on the English. It guarded approach to the 
treasured winter regions of the great lakes with their 
store of furs, and it furnished a fine base for negotia- 
tions with the Indians of New York State and the keep- 
ing of them in a state of disaffection with the English. 

In 1755, during that series of preliminary conflicts 
which marked the beginning of the great battle royal 
between France and England for the possession of the 
New World, an expedition against Niagara was fitted 
out by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, and pro- 
ceeded under his command as far as Oswego. Thus far 
it went and no farther, for sickness and desertion 
thinned the ranks of the men, and unfavorable weather, 
as well as the presence of the French in strength at 
Frontenac just across the lake, rendered unwise further 
advance in the Governor of Massachusetts' project. It 
was not for four years, 1759, that the arm of the Eng- 
lish was used in strength against the busy, ancient fort. 

116 



FORT NIAGARA 



In this year General Prideaux, a capable officer, 
with Sir William Johnson, of New York, as his second 
in command, was despatched with a force of English 
colonial troops and Indians against the post. Fort 
Niagara was garrisoned by 600 French soldiers under 
the command of Captain Pouchot, a chevalier of the 
order of St. Louis. About a mile up the river was a 
little wooden stockade commanded by the half-breed 
Joincaire-Chabert, who with his brother Joincaire- 
Clauzonne and a clan of Indian relatives had long been 
a thorn in the side of the English in influencing the 
powerful Five Nations against them. But Sir William 
Johnson was beginning to have that ascendency over 
this savage federation which was to be so great an aid 
to the English from this time forward and had with him 
now 900 warriors of this clan to lead against the French. 
So Joincaire closed up his little stronghold and joined 
his forces to those of Pouchot, the combined strength of 
the two by no means being sufficient to beat off the 
English attack. 

There was another resource upon which Pouchot 
confidently relied, however, and this was prospect of 
help from the back countries controlled by the French. 
By order of Vaudreuil, the Governor of New France, 
the French population of the Illinois, Detroit and other 
distant posts had come down the Lakes, a motley and 
picturesque throng, to help maintain the ascendency of 
France in the New World. They were now gathered 

117 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



at various posts of the French back countrj^ and no 
sooner did Pouchot learn that the English were about 
to attack him than he sent messengers to smnmon all of 
these forces to Niagara. 

The siege began with the clumsy lack of forethought 
which seemed to mark all military operations of those 
days, which depended chiefly upon native courage and 
final enthusiasm of assault to carry through than wise 
foreplanning. The English trenches were so unskilfully 
laid out that they were raked by the fire of the fort. 
However, the English at last got down to business and 
their batteries commenced to play upon the French. A 
prematurely bursting shell from one of the coehorns 
killed Prideaux at almost the first discharges of the bom- 
bardment and the command fell upon Sir William John- 
son, who proceeded with an enheartening energy to 
carry on the good work. At the end of three weeks 
the rampart of Fort Niagara was breached, more than 
100 of the soldiery therein had been killed and the gar- 
rison was in extremity. Yet Pouchot fought on val- 
iantly, resting upon the arrival of reinforcements from 
the French and savage forces which he had summoned. 
At length a distant firing told him that these were near. 

Pouchot went with an officer to the bastion next to 
the river and listened anxiously to the firing which told 
him that his reinforcements were in conflict with the 
English and trying to cut a way through to the belea- 
guered stronghold. For a time he heard the sound of 

118 



FORT NIAGARA 



battle and then all was still. At length a friendly Indian 
who had passed unnoticed through the lines of the Eng- 
lish came to the French commander. " Your men are 
defeated," he said in substance. Pouchot would not be- 
lieve him. Nevertheless it was true and this fact was 
the death-blow to French hold of Fort Niagara. In the 
articles of surrender shortly afterward drawn up, it was 
specially stipulated that the French should be protected 
from the Indians as they feared that the massacre of 
Fort William Henry would be avenged upon them, 
Johnson was able to restrain his lawless allies and, 
though the fort was given to pillage, no French lives 
were taken after the surrender. 

From this time until the close of the American War 
of Independence the post remained in English hands. 
During the Pontiac War of 1763 the Indians made an 
unsuccessful attack upon it and its garrison frequently 
took part in small skirmishes with lurking unfriendly 
Senecas in the woods around the post. Heavily gar- 
risoned by the English during the Revolution, it served 
as a base for the war parties which frequently devas- 
tated the State of New York. Both the expedition led 
by Colonel Butler, which culminated in the massacre at 
Wyoming, New York, in 1778, and that which laid 
waste Cherry Valley in the same year, started from Fort 
Niagara. 

That the American forces were not unaware of the 
evil dominance of this post on the far western border of 

119 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



New York, we cannot doubt, as one of the objects of the 
expedition led by General Sullivan against the Indians 
in 1779 was the destruction, if possible, of Niagara; but 
this campaign ended only with the destruction of Indian 
villages. Subsequent to the declaration of peace be- 
tween England and America, the point was held by 
English troops until it was taken over by an American 
garrison in 1796, probably having the distinction of 
being the last post surrendered by the English to the 
Americans in the United States. In 1799, in anticipa- 
tion of another Indian war, the post was heavily rein- 
forced. 

A description of Fort Niagara between 1805 and 
1814 has been given by a daughter of Dr. West, surgeon 
to the post dm'ing those years. 

It was then surrounded on three sides with strong pickets 
of plank, firmly planted in the ground and closely joined to- 
gether; a heavy gate in front of double plank, closely studded 
with iron spikes. The fourth side was defended with embank- 
ments of earth under which were formerly barracks, affording 
a safe though somewhat gloomy retreat for the famiHes of 
soldiers, but which had been abandoned and the entrance closed 
long before my remembrance, having been so infested with 
rattlesnakes that had made their dens within that it was hardly 
safe to walk across the parade. 

The last chapter in the history of the fort was not 
a glorious one, though thoroughly typical of the desul- 
tory character of the conflict between Great Britain and 
the United States which is known as the War of 1812. 

120 



I 



FORT NIAGARA 



The official declaration of the imminence of hostilities 
reached Fort Niagara, June 26, 1812, and preparations 
were immediately undertaken to strengthen and defend 
the work. The fort was then under the command of 
Captain Leonard, United States Artillery, with 370 
men. During the night of December 19, 1813, the Eng- 
lish, 500 strong, under Colonel Murray, crossed the 
river, captured the sentinels and took the work by sur- 
prise, killing 65 of the American garrison and taking 
prisoner almost all of the remainder, with a loss to them- 
selves of five men killed and wounded. A disgraceful 
side of the matter is that none of the American officers 
were at their posts at this time, but were off junketing 
somewhere in the country near by. Twenty-seven can- 
non of large cahbre, 3000 stand of small arms, and a 
large amount of clothing, garrison equipage, and com- 
missary stores fell into the hands of the British, who, 
as well, destroyed the villages of Lewiston and Buffalo, 
besides all of the dwellings on the lake as far as Eigh- 
teen-Mile Creek. 

The capture of Fort Niagara was shortly afterwards 
characterized in the following terms by General Cass 
who was ordered to the frontier: " The fall of Niagara 
was owing to the most criminal negligence ; the force in 
it was fully competent for its defence." 

The English held Niagara until the close of the war 
and surrendered it to the United States in March, 1815. 
The career of the point from that time to the present 
has been merely one of growing old gracefully. 



\^ 



121 



FORT ONTARIO 

OSWEGO-NEW YORK 




T was in 1722 that Oswego, New 
York, was made the site of an 
armed camp and, at that, it was 
more through the stubborn de- 
termination of Governor Burnet 
of the colony that the thing should 
be done than through any willing- 
ness of the staid burghers of the State Assembly to 
co-operate with their executive in schemes leading to 
future good. As a matter of fact, Governor Burnet 
is said to have paid the bill for establishing his little fort 
out of his own pocket, though he may have made this 
sum up in some other direction — authorities do not tell 
us this kind of thing ! Yet this little post was to become 
one of the most decisive factors in determining the 
result of the conflict between France and England for 
the New World, the flags of three Christian nations 
were to fly over it at difl'erent periods, and warriors 
white, red, French, English and colonial were to 
struggle for its possession. So much grows out of so 
little! 

One of the earliest mentions of Oswego in the his- 
tory of the colonies is that in 1687 the Onondaga In- 
dians presented a petition to the mayor and common 
council of Albany, that busy little trading post, request- 
ing them to establish a trading post and fort at this 

122 



<5-s. ? S 9 

5 f- N5 ■-.; 




FORT ONTARIO 



point. The mayor and common council evidently 
thought that this was too wild an undertaking; for no 
defences existed there when, in 1696, the restless 
Frontenac landed at Oswego Point on a punitive ex- 
pedition against the Five Nations and built himself a 
little stockade fort before pressing on to fruitless vic- 
tory into the interior of the country. 

The strategic importance of the location to the Eng- 
lish was not lost on these astute empire builders, giving 
access as it does with the Hudson Valley by way of the 
Oswego River, through Oneida Lake, to the headwaters 
of the Mohawk River, or giving access to the Susque- 
hanna Valley by way of the Oswego River, Lake Onan- 
daga and the head of the Susquehanna. During the 
governorship of Lord Bellemont, in the province of 
New York, the establishment of a post at Oswego was 
contemplated, and material was even ordered from 
England for the purpose, but it remained for Governor 
Bellemont's successor to carry out in effect what had 
been before done in theory. 

In 1727 Governor Burnet called the attention of 
the councillors of the province to the fact that he had 
established a post at Oswego (the name was borrowed 
from the Iroquois ) , and added that he had sent a cap- 
tain, two lieutenants and sixty soldiers to the point and 
that he intended to keep a force there always. 

This announcement came to the ear of the gover- 
nor of New France and so incensed him that he sent a 

123 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



letter to Governor Burnet asking that official why, in 
opposition to the plain stipulations of the Treaty of 
Ghent which forbade the erection of works of defence 
or offence, he had constructed and manned this fort. 
Governor Bm-net replied by calling attention to the 
French building of " Oneagorah " or Niagara, thus 
showing that the practice of justifying a soiled pot by 
pointing to a black kettle is of ancient foundation. 
Anyhow, Governor Burnet went cheerfully on with his 
fortifying of Oswego, though Governor Beauharnais 
sent several expeditions to harass and deter his work- 
men. 

This first fortification at Osw^ego was of a very 
simple character. Beauharnais complained that it was 
" a redoubt with galleries and full of loop-holes and 
other works belonging to fortifications," but Burnet 
merely says that the " walls were four feet thick of 
large good stone " and finds no other details to dilate 
upon. In 174)1 the colony authorized the expenditure 
of 600 pounds, sterling, to " erect a sufficient stone 
wall at a proper distance around the trading house at 
Oswego, either in a triangular or quadrangular form, 
as the ground will best admit of, with a bastion or 
block-house in each corner to flank the curtain." Later 
on we find that complaints were made to the General 
Assembly that the contractors who had the job in hand 
were using clay instead of stone and that they were 
skimping their work fearfully in order to line their 

124 



FORT ONTARIO 



pockets generously. This is one of the very earliest pub- 
lic scandals of New York State and one that seems to 
have eluded the muck-raker so far. 

The post was abandoned between the years 1744 
and 1755 as, on the outbreak of hostilities with Canada, 
its occupants feared that they could not in their ex- 
posed and unsupported position withstand an attack 
in force from Quebec. 

As the years went on, however, the post of Oswego 
became increasingly valuable to the English and they 
in turn became far more able to hold their own. Situ- 
ated as it was between Niagara and the ocean, — be- 
tween the back country of the French and their metrop- 
olis of Quebec, — it fairly broke the back of the long 
wriggling French line of settlements, which extended 
from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of 
the Mississippi. 

In 1755 the EngHsh authorities agreed upon a plan 
of invasion of Canada and resolved to make Oswego 
their base of operations. Accordingly Colonel Shirley, 
of Massachusetts, with his own and Sir William Pep- 
perell's regiments, with some New Jersey and New 
York militia, in addition, made his way to Oswego, 
arriving there about the end of June, 1755. They 
were prevented by sickness and ill luck from proceed- 
ing against Niagara as had been their intention, and 
the one great thing that they accomplished was the 
rehabilitation of the old fort. They also commenced 

125 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



a fort on the west side of the river, which they called 
Fort Ontario, and Fort Ontario has survived to the 
present day. An extract from the " Gentleman's 
Magazine " of 1756, New York Colonial Documents, 
gives an idea of this undertaking: 

When it was determined that the army at Oswego should go 
into winter quarters, they began a new fort upon the hill upon 
the east side of the river, about 470 yards from the old one ; it 
is 800 feet in circumference and will command the harbor ; it is 
built of logs from 20 to 30 inches thick; the wall is 14 feet high 
and is encompassed by a ditch 14 feet broad and 10 feet deep; 
it is to contain barracks for 300 men. On the other side of 
the river west from the old fort another new fort is erecting; 
this is 170 feet square. A hospital of frame-work, 150 feet by 
30 feet, is already built and may serve as a barrack for 200 
men, and another barrack is preparing of 150 feet by 24. 

The second new fort noted in this extract is Fort 
George, a rude structure and one not fitted long to 
stand against the elements. 

Another result of Shirley's expedition was to cause 
the French, who had been rather inactive, to bestir 
themselves. In the fall of 1755 they heavily reinforced 
their posts, sending to Fort Niagara a lively young 
Captain named Pouchot. In 1756 this observant man 
despatched a memorial to his superiors at Quebec, 
setting forth that the English at Oswego were not on 
the alert, or in force, and that the capture of the post 
was a feasibility. The authorities at Quebec thought 

126 



FORT ONTARIO 



well of this idea, so well in fact that Montcalm, him- 
self, who was at Fort Frontenac, — newly arrived in New 
France to take over the command of the military forces 
of the whole French new world, — took charge of the 
expedition, which was organized on Captain Pouchot's 
suggestion. 

Before proceeding in force against Oswego, Mont- 
calm ordered De Villiers to proceed with 700 men to 
the headwaters of the Oswego River and to observe 
the enemy at Oswego. This force advanced rapidly, 
sm-prised and took Fort Bull, on Wood Creek near 
the head of Oneida Lake, and destroyed a large amount 
of provisions destined for Oswego. On May 7, 1756, 
a party of Indians set out from Fort Niagara, made 
a descent upon some ship carpenters near Oswego, and 
returned to Niagara with twelve scalps. These re- 
peated successes, joined with Braddock's defeat, pro- 
duced a profound effect upon the Indians and caused 
the Iroquois Federation to side for the time with the 
French. Throughout the early summer of this year 
Montcalm's men continued to harass the garrison at 
Oswego, capturing many stores of provisions designed 
for Fort Ontario. Montcalm hurried his preparations, 
so that by August he was ready to march against 
Oswego with 3000 men well equipped. He landed on 
Four-inch Point, east of Oswego, on August 11, and 
marched to a swamp a short distance in the rear of 
Fort Ontario, where he gave charge of the engineer- 

127 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ing operations now developing upon his expedition to 
Captain Pouchot. 

Pouchot constructed a road through the swamp in 
one night and opened up with a battery upon Fort 
Ontario at sixty paces distance. The garrison fled in 
disorder across the river to the old fort. Montcalm 
sent a strong force to cross the river above to cut off 
retreat and opened fire the next morning with a battery 
on the river bank. Colonel Mercer, the English com- 
mander, was killed and his men soon surrendered. The 
spoils of the conqueror were 120 cannon, 9 vessels of 
war in process of construction, and a great quantity 
of provisions and munitions of war. 

There now occurred another one of those horrible 
massacres which fouled the name of the French through 
their inability to control their savage allies. The pris- 
oners numbered 1700, many of them civilian employees 
in the ship-yards, and Montcalm had pledged their 
safety. Notwithstanding this, more than a hundred 
were killed by the savages, either quickly or by the 
slow process of torture. The French losses in the siege 
were 30 killed and wounded, and the English killed in 
fighting numbered 150. 

The artillery of the English forts at Oswego was 
removed to Fort Niagara and the forts were dismantled. 
The forts remained unoccupied until 1759, when the 
English advancing to the attack of Fort Niagara left 
a force of 500 men here to protect their rear and keep 

128 



FORT ONTARIO 



open their lines of communication. The French ad- 
vanced against this small command and would have 
taken it by surprise had not a priest insisted upon speak- 
ing to the troops before they went into battle. The 
English became apprised of the approach of the French 
during this delay and sallied out to attack them, with 
victory in the subsequent battle crowning their efforts. 

In 1760 General Amherst strengthened the forts 
at Oswego and left a large force here which became 
valuable in the war against Canada. This was one of 
the few fortunate moves that this general made. 

Fort Ontario was also an important base for the 
British during the war of American Independence. In 
1777 the English Colonel St. Leger gathered 700 men 
here and was joined by Brant with 700 Indians. The 
combined forces marched to besiege Fort Stanwix at 
the head of the Mohawk River, but were defeated and 
pursued back to their base, where they hurriedly em- 
barked for Montreal. 

In 1783 General Washington prepared an expedi- 
tion under Colonel Willett to capture Fort Ontario. 
The command assembled at Fort Stanwix and marched 
for Oswego. When within a few miles of the fort their 
presence was discovered and made known to the British 
by some wood-cutters, and Colonel Willett, on learn- 
ing that his chance of taking the post by surprise was 
gone, marched back to Fort Stanwix without making 
an attack. Peace was soon declared and no further 
operations were conducted. 

d 129 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The post was transferred to the United States 
in 1796, with the other frontier posts which Great 
Britain had held. From then until the outbreak of the 
War of 1812 it was allowed to fall into decay, and at 
the beginning of that conflict was but partially armed 
and quite unable to withstand an enemy. The English, 
hearing of its condition, and hearing, moreover, of the 
presence in the fort of large quantities of stores of all 
kinds, sent a fleet with 3000 men against the place. 

The British force appeared before the town May 5, 
1814. The Americans prepared a battery on shore and 
gallantly repulsed efforts at landing, until at length 
the British, through pure force of numbers, were able 
to accomplish this first step. The Americans then re- 
treated up the river in good order, burning the bridges 
in their rear. Their number was 300. The British, 
baffled in taking any prisoners, burned the barracks, 
spiked the guns and retired. The American loss was 
6 killed, 38 wounded and 24 missing. The British loss 
was 235. From that time to the present Fort Ontario 
has remained in possession of the United States. 

The years saw the town of Oswego grow up around 
Fort Ontario. The fort was rebuilt of wood in 1839 
and of stone in 1863. In 1901 the garrison was with- 
drawn and the old fort is now a public reservation for 
the use of the citizens of Oswego, its days of military 
life probably ended forever. 

- b 



FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC AND 
FORT HOLMES 

MACKINAC ISLAND— MICHIGAN 




T was a conjunction of the Church 
and the State which began the 
career of Fort Michillimackinac, 
more than three centuries ago, at 
Saint Ignace, a point on the Can- 
adian side of the Straits of Mack- 
inac; the Church in the person of 
the restless Father Marquette and the State in the form 
of its indefatigable military servant, the Sieur de la 
Salle. In 1673 Father Marquette established the mis- 
sion of Saint Ignace in a thriving village of the Ottawas, 
who were, Francis Parkman tells us, among the most 
civilized tribes of the American natives. Two years 
later La Salle visited the place in the Griffon, the first 
vessel to sail the Great Lakes. This barque the inde- 
fatigable Frenchmen had just constructed on Cayuga 
Creek just above Niagara Falls. 

The beginnings of a fort were already made when 
La Salle came to St. Ignace, that is, a palisade had been 
erected. Its defenders were Indians. La Salle sent 
the Griffon back to civilization for supplies and rigging 
for a second sailing vessel. Fortunately for history, 
which would have lost one of its most picturesque fig- 
ures, he decided to remain, himself, at Saint Ignace and 
not to accompany his beloved Griffon on its round trip. 

131 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



That bewildered little ship was overcome by the fury 
of one of the lakes. At least it never returned, or was 
heard of, and reasonable surmise is that it found its 
haven beneath the waters. La Salle filled in his spare 
hours at Saint Ignace in the casual practice of his pro- 
fession, by completing and strengthening the puny de- 
fences which Father Marquette had caused to be erected. 
Thus came into existence the first Fort Michilli- 
mackinac. 

Indian tradition concerning the name Michilli- 
mackinac is curious. It relates that Michapous, chief 
of spirits, sojourned long in the vicinity of the Straits 
of Huron, on a mountain on the border of the lake. 
Here he first instructed man to fabricate nets and to 
take fish therein. On the island of Michillimackinac he 
left spirits named Imakinakos and from these legendary 
possessors came the name Michillimackinac which means 
Great Turtle. The tradition is not altogether clear. 
Suffice it to be assured that the word is of Indian 
origin, and doubtless its patient originators were thor- 
oughly well pleased with it. 

The next distinguished visitor to Saint Ignace was 
La Motte Cadillac, whose name is spread so generously 
around all of this lakeside region of Michigan and 
whose errand was to strengthen the fort which La Salle 
had erected on Father Marquette's foundation. Use- 
less labor this proved to be, for the growing importance 
of Detroit and the determination of the French to build 

132 



FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC 



up this point at the expense of the more northern and 
less accessible trading-post caused Saint Ignace to wane 
in importance and its stockades to be unoccupied. 

In 1712 the little setttlement was moved bodily to 
the southern side of the straits at the point where 
Mackinaw City now stands and the second Fort 
Michillimackinac was erected, destined to a far more 
eventful history than the first. Time ran on. The 
French lost their grip of the New World and sur- 
rendered Michillimackinac with other places to the 
English. Let us see how the Uttle place looked in 
English possession. Parkman has well described it: 

Doubling a point he sees before him the red flag of England 
swelling lazily in the wind and the palisades and wooden bas- 
tions of Fort Michillimackinac standing close upon the margin 
of the lake. On the beach canoes are drawn up and Canadians 
and Indians are lazily lounging A little beyond the fort is a 
cluster of the white Canadian houses roofed with bark and pro- 
tected by fences of strong round pickets The trader enters 
at the gate, and sees before him an extensive square area sur- 
rounded by high palisades. Numerous houses, barracks, and 
other buildings form a smaller square within, and in the vacant 
space which they enclose appear the red uniforms of British 
soldiers, the gray coats of Canadians, and the gaudy Indian 
blankets mingled in picturesque confusion ; while a multitude of 
squaws with children of every hue stroll restlessly about the 
place. Such was Fort Michillimackinac in 1763. 

A peaceful spot this was for the scene of bloody 
savagery which was shortly to be enacted in its pre- 

133 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



cincts. The Indians who were neighbors of Michilli- 
mackinac had never become reconciled to the English- 
man's presence in their wilderness. Many of these 
savages had fought with the French against the Eng- 
lish and had lost relatives or friends in battle, thus lay- 
ing the foundations for blood feuds which in the Indian 
custom could only be wiped out with blood. In addi- 
tion to that, their leaders were conspirators with the 
great Pontiac in his aim to push the English back 
beyond the mountains whence they had come and to 
restore the forests to the savages. When news came 
in the spring of 1763 of Pontiac's activities around 
Detroit, the Ojibwas and Ottawas near Michillimack- 
inac determined that they, too, must taste of blood. 
The massacre of the garrison of this post was planned. 
The Indians' plans were laid well but they should 
not have had the uncontested success that they did 
have. All accounts point to a great measure of care- 
lessness and lack of sufficient estimation of his neigh- 
bors on the part of the unhappy commander of the 
garrison. This officer was Captain Etherington and 
with him were about thirty-five men and the full com- 
plement of under-officers. Several times Etherington 
was warned that the red-skins were plotting mischief, 
and his own observation might have acquainted him 
with this fact as well. Yet with true British phlegm 
he waved aside all suggestions that were made to him 
and even went so far as to threaten to punish any one 

134 



FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC 



who disturbed his garrison with stories of impending 
disaster. It is not remarkable that the Indians found 
him unprepared. 

On the morning of the fourth of June the weather 
was warm and sultry. It was his majesty King 
George's birthday and for this reason there were festal 
arrangements at the fort. The soldiers were allowed 
liberty to wander where they would, in or out of the 
stockades, and the Indians had permission to play a 
game of ball in honor of the day. As time went on the 
fort became filled with Indians, chiefs and humble fol- 
lowers of the ranks, old hags, young women and 
children. 

The hour for the ball game approached. This game 
of ball, or baggataway as the red men called it, was 
a favorite with the Indians. It was very much like the 
lacrosse of the present day, in fact was the original of 
that game. There were two goals and the players 
attempted to toss a ball through one of these two goals 
with sticks. They were not allowed to use their hands 
to throw the ball, so the game required a degree of skill 
as well as agility and endurance. 

The Ojibwas and the Sacs, two rivals of long 
standing, were the contestants and excitement ran high. 
Captain Etherington, with one of his lieutenants, was 
lounging at the gate of the fort whooping on the 
Ojibwas, for he had promised them that he would bet 
on their side. Suddenly the ball arose in the air in a 

135 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



graceful curve and fell within the walls of the fort. 
The players, an excited mob, burst after it yelling. Sus- 
pecting nothing, Etherington stepped aside with a laugh 
to let the howling mass sweep in the walls of the citadel. 

The Indians' stratagem had been completely suc- 
cessful. Before he knew what was being done, Ether- 
ington, with his lieutenant, was seized and bound, while 
the Indians, reinforced by their comrades amongst the 
spectators of the game, seized tomahawks which the 
squaws had concealed beneath their blankets and fell 
on the hapless members of the little garrison. There 
commenced one of those familiar scenes of butchery 
with which border tradition and the accounts of wit- 
nesses who escaped have made us familiar. Men were 
stricken down and held between Indians' knees while 
they were scalped, still alive. Women and children 
were slaughtered. Bodies of both sexes were mangled. 
Frenzied red warriors scooped up handfuls of blood 
and drank it in gulps. Soon the chapter was ended. 
Only a few of the little garrison — kept, like Ethering- 
ton, on account of rank or for some particular reasons 
— were left alive. 

From this day for four years Fort ]Michillimackinac 
was without a garrison. Then, with the subjection of 
the red tribes, the English came back to their border 
posts and Michillimackinac was once more filled with 
soldiery. In the early days of the Revolution the walls 

136 



I 



FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC 



of the fort were strengthened and the garrison was 
increased. 

The strategic location of the fort had never been 
advantageous for purposes of defence, however, so in 
November, 1779, Major de Peyster, fearful of attacks 
by the Americans, moved his garrison over to the little 
island of Michillimackinac and built the third Fort 
Michillimackinac, that which is standing to-day. The 
location which Major de Peyster chose was on the 
southeastern portion of the island, which is three miles 
wide and seven miles long, and there is a fine harbor 
at the point chosen for the location of the fort. This 
third fort Michillimackinac was occupied by the British 
on July 15, 1780, but was not used by them during 
the Revolution. In 1796 it was turned over to an 
American garrison as the sequel of an extensive cor- 
respondence between the young new nation and its 
tenacious old mother country. 

As it was necessary to know what disposition to 
make of her newly-acquired border forts, the United 
States at the close of the eighteenth century despatched 
a certain Uriah Tracy to visit the frontier of the coun- 
try and report on the condition of the fortifications 
there. His letter about Michillimackinac, preserved 
in the War Department files, gives a picture of the 
place in December, 1800. The body of the letter 
follows : 

137 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Hon. Samuel Dexter, Secretary of War: 

In consequence of your predecessor's request to visit post 
in the Western territory I proceeded to Plattsburg . . . and 
on to Michillimackinac. Our fort at Michillimackinac is one of 
our most important posts. It stands on an island in the straits 
which lead from Lake Michigan into Lake Huron four or five 
miles from the head of the strait. Fort Michillimackinac is an 
irregular work partly built with a strong wall and partly with 
pickets ; and the parade ground within it is from 100 to 125 feet 
above the surface of the water. It contains a well of never-fail- 
ing water, a boom proof used as a magazine, one stone barracks 
for the use of the officers, equal if not superior to any building 
of the kind in the United States, a good guard-house and bar- 
racks for soldiers and convenient store-houses for produce, etc., 
with three strong and convenient block-houses. This post is 
strong both by nature and by art and the possession of it has a 
great influence with the Indians in favor of the United States. 
The whole island on which the fort is situated belongs to the 
United States and is five or six miles in length and two or three 
miles in width. On the bank of the strait adjacent to the fort 
stands a large house which was by the English called Govern- 
ment House and was kept by the British commander of the fort 
which now belongs to the United States. 

The island and the country about it is remarkably healthy 
and very fertile for so high a northern latitude. 

Uriah Tracy. 

The breaking out of the War of 1812 found only 
57 soldiers under Lieutenant Porter Hanks at Fort 
Michillimackinac. JNIoreover, the federal authorities at 
Washington neglected to notify several of their border 
forts that war had been declared. Accordingly when 

138 



FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC 



Captain Roberts, in command of a British force con- 
sisting of English soldiers, volunteers and Indians to 
the number of about 900, descended upon the little 
post, Michillimackinac was not in the attitude of 
resistance. 

Thus captured by the British, the post was a most 
important stronghold for them during the continuance 
of the conflict between the two countries. Not only 
did it give them a base of great strategic possibilities, 
but its easy capture had an immense moral effect upon 
the Indian tribes round about, bringing many of these 
tribes to the British aid and being the direct cause of 
much of the Indian trouble that Americans suffered 
on the western frontier at this time. 

The English set to energetically fortifying the point 
as soon as they had assumed charge. A hill-top back 
of Fort Michillimackinac became the site for a block- 
house which is standing to this day, and the walls of 
Mackinac were strengthened and made greater. A 
letter from R. McDouall, the British commander, of 
date July 17, 1814, says: 

I am doing my utmost to prepare for their (the American) 
reception. Our new works on the hill overlooking the old fort 
are nearly completed and the block-house in the centre will be 
finished this week, which will make the position one of the 
strongest in Canada. Its principal defect is the difficulty of 
finding water near it, but that obviated and a sufficient supply 
of provisions laid in, no force that the enemy can bring will be 
able to reduce it. 

139 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The Englishman's opinion of the invulnerabihty 
to attack of his block-house was proved by events and 
was evidently shared by the Americans, for, when they 
came in force against JNIichillimackinac, they attacked 
from a different quarter. The American forces were 
under the command of Colonel Croghan and Major 
Holmes, who was beloved throughout the American 
army for his engaging personality and many fine qual- 
ities. During the short and unsuccessful attack Holmes 
was mortally hurt. At the conclusion of the war, when 
Michillimackinac and its new block-house were sur- 
rendered by Great Britain to the United States, the 
name of this talented young officer was applied to the 
block-house. The surrender of Michillimackinac took 
place July 18, 1815. 

From the date of its surrender until 1895 Fort 
Michillimackinac was regularly garrisoned by United 
States troops, but in this latter year the garrison was 
withdrawn and the works were left in the charge of a 
caretaker. The block-houses were in rather dilapidated 
condition and the grounds had become overgrown when, 
in 1909, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission 
of ^lichigan was created and in the hands of this or- 
ganization the old fort has fared well. The block-house 
has been restored and the grounds of the fort and its 
buildings have been maintained at the public expense. 
Every year Michillimackinac is visited by sight-seers 
and the island is a popular summering place for many. 

140 



.^ 



\ 



Mu 



FORT MASSAC 

NEAR METROPOLIS— ILLINOIS 




HE far too far-seeing French in 
1702, in furtherance of their de- 
sign of dominion in North Amer- 
ica, despatched a detachment of 
about thirty men from Kas- 
kaskia under the temporal com- 
mand of M. Juchereau de St. 
Denis and the spiritual direction of fiery Father Mer- 
met to establish a trading post, mission and fort, as 
near as convenient to the mouth of the Ohio River to 
guard the southern access to this vital means of travel. 
The result of this expedition was the establishment of 
Fort Massac, the site of the future little city of Metrop- 
ohs, Illinois. 

Consider the map as it is to-day, showing Metrop- 
olis and the surrounding country, and see the fine 
position that Fort Massac had in the day of its estab- 
lishment : It was about thirty-six miles above the mouth 
of the Ohio, quite far enough up to be out of the reach 
of any flood of that great torrent and also to be beyond 
the convenient call of marauding expeditions which 
might be making the Mississippi their route north; it 
faced to the south the mouth of the Tennessee River 
and was not far from where the Cumberland and 
Wabash rivers joined their courses to the Ohio, and 
thus it had fine trading advantages. Therefore it is 

141 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



not to be wondered at that for a time the new post 
flourished mightily. Juchereau traded and Father Mer- 
met preached to satisfied savages and Frenchmen. 

Of Father Mermet's work it has been said that his 
gentle virtues in every-day life and his fervid eloquence 
in the spiritual rostrum made him beloved and respected 
by all. 

At early dawn his pupils came to church dressed neatly 
and modestly each in a deer-skin or robe sewn together from 
several skins. After receiving lessons they chanted canticle; 
mass was then said in presence of all the Christians, the 
French and the converts — the women on one side and the men 
on the other. From prayers and instructions the missionaries 
proceeded to visit the sick and administer medicine, and their 
skill as physicians did more than all the rest to win confidence. 
In the afternoon the catechism was taught in the presence of 
the young and old, when every one, without distinction of rank 
or age, answered the questions of the missionary. At evening 
all would assemble at the chapel for instruction, for prayer and 
to chant the hymns of the Church. On Sunday and festivals, 
even after vespers, a homily was pronounced; at the close of 
the day parties would meet in houses to recite the chaplets In 
alternate choirs and sing psalms till late at night. Saturday 
and Sunday were the days appointed for confession and com- 
munion and every convert confessed once in a fortnight. The 
success of this mission was such that marriages of the French 
immigrants were sometimes solemnized with the daughters of 
the Illinois according to the rites of the Catholic church. 

Tradition says that the site of Massac had been used 
by de Soto for a palisade in 1542, but whether this is 

142 




(Erected by Illinois Daughters American Revolution) 




From the River 
FORT MASSAC, ON THE OHIO (LA BELLE RIVIERE) 



FORT MASSAC 



true there is no positive evidence to prove. Juchereau's 
settlement consisted of a palisaded fort, a trading house, 
several log cottages and the chapel which Mermet christ- 
ened " Assumption," and this name was applied to the 
entire settlement for some years. The name " Massac " 
did not originate until half a century later. For a time, 
indeed, the point was known as the " Old Cherokee 
Fort." 

Juchereau was removed from Massac and went to 
the southern waters of the Mississippi, where he found 
many large " fish to fry " which need not be described 
in this chapter, and the good Father Mermet was taken 
back to Kaskaskia. Deprived of its mainsprings in 
this fashion, the little post began to languish and shortly 
came to grief because of rising disaffection among the 
surrounding Indians. The place was abandoned by 
the French fleeing for their lives and leaving behind 
them thirteen thousand buffalo skins which were eagerly 
seized by the Indians from whom they had been pur- 
chased at the rate of munificence usual to those days. 
Tradition has it that the post was re-established by 
adventurers shortly after its abandonment and was used 
as a trading centre pure and simple, but the once lively 
little foundation of Juchereau and Mermet was not 
again conspicuous in the events of that border until 
the French and Indian War of 1756-63. 

During this time it was a rendezvous for the French 
on the Ohio River and was their last defence in the 

143 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



campaign of the English which finally wrested La Belle 
Riviere from the lilies of France. In 1756 French sol- 
diers landed here in force, threw up earthworks and 
erected a stockade with four bastions mounting eight 
cannon. Henceforth in French records the site was 
known as Fort Massac. In 1763, by the terms of the 
Treaty of Paris, Massac became an English possession 
together with all of the rest of the French strongholds 
in North America, but it was not until the spring of 
1765 that the troops of France finally marched out from 
the fort. The English during the thirteen years that 
they held the Illinois country never occupied the point 
with troops. 

The event in which Fort Massac played a part, which 
was to have the greatest influence in its section, took 
place, however, not during its French and Indian days, 
but later, when the American colonies were asserting 
their independence of the Mother Country. All of the 
Illinois country was held then by His Majesty's troops, 
but it was common information that the French in- 
habitants of the conquered country were not extraor- 
dinarily well disposed to their rulers and that the gar- 
risons of the English strongholds here had been largely 
reduced to aid the fight on the eastern sea-coast. Ac- 
cordingly it entered the head of one George Rogers 
Clark, a daring borderman of twenty-six years, Vir- 
ginian by birth, that it would not be an impossible task 
to take from the English by force the country which 

144 



FORT MASSAC 



they had in this manner seized from the French. June, 
1778, saw him landing at Fort Massac, then imgar- 
risoned, with a small body of men, and this same day 
probably saw the American flag unfurled for the first 
time west of the Ohio River, as it is confidently be- 
lieved that Clark brought a copy of the new standard 
with him. From Fort Massac the expedition set out 
and achieved the ends which its commander f orevisioned 
with many deeds of daring. It opened the gates to 
American settlement of all the northwest country of 
the United States. 

Fort Massac was not occupied by troops until 1794, 
when, in view of probable collision with Spain and 
France, Washington despatched Major Thomas Doyle, 
of the United States Army, to rebuild and occupy the 
post. This was done and for some years it was of im- 
portance. In 1797 about thirty families had settled in 
the neighborhood. Captain Zebulon Pike being in com- 
mand of a garrison of eighty-three men. At different 
times General Anthony Wayne and James Wilkinson 
occupied the fort as their head-quarters. In 1812 it was 
garrisoned by a Tennessee volunteer regiment, but at 
the close of that conflict the fort was evacuated once 
more. 

In 1855, according to an account of Governor Rey- 
nolds, of Illinois, Fort Massac was in good condition. 
The walls, 135 feet square, were strong and at each 
corner was a stout bastion. A large well of sweet water 

10 145 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



was within the fortress and the walls were palisaded 
with earth between the wood. 

The site of old Fort Massac is to-day a State park 
and the Illinois chapter of the Daughters of the Amer- 
ican Revolution have restored the old fort as far as 
possible to the form that it bore at the time of the Revo- 
lution. It is additionally interesting as being the sole 
survivor of that long line of forts with which the French 
hoped to hold the Ohio River. 






.^' 



\ 



WEST POINT, ITS ENVIRONS AND 
STONY POINT 

AT ENTRANCE TO HUDSON HIGHLANDS— NEW YORK 




HE long trough of land which 
runs 384 miles from New York 
to Montreal, consisting of the 
Hudson River Valley, Lakes 
George and Champlain and the 
Richelieu River Valley, is with- 
out doubt the most vital of 
American natural highways and its importance has been 
recognized from the earliest days of American history. 
The French in the days when the lilies of France waved 
over half of the American continent sent their war 
parties down this depression to prey upon the English 
settlements, and hence came about the building of 
Ticonderoga at the northern entrance to the long march. 
The American colonists years afterward, when they had 
need to defend the southern mouth of the valley, forti- 
fied West Point and its neighboring points and crags, 
their first cover being taken at Peekskill some three or 
four miles south of West Point. It will be remem- 
bered that in 1777 came about that menacing campaign 
in the Hudson in which the British from the south 
under Sir Henry Clinton and in the north under Gen- 
eral Burgoyne attempted a juncture of forces at 
Albany, the intention being to divide the American 
colonies along the line of the historic Hudson Valley 

147 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



and then to reduce each half at leisure while the British 
fleet prevented any efforts at union by way of the 
sea-coast. Burgoyne surrendered in October of that 
year at Saratoga, which is roughly half way between 
Lake George and Albany, but to Sir Henry Clinton, 
whose campaign was one of disaster to the Americans, 
a few moments may be given in profitable speculation. 

The American forces opposed to Clinton on the 
lower Hudson consisted of about 1200 Continentals 
under the command of the choleric old General Israel 
Putnam and were concentrated several miles south of 
West Point, where three forts had been built at great 
expense earlier in the year. Fort Independence was 
on the east side of the Hudson just north of Peekskill; 
Forts Clinton and Montgomery were on the west side 
directly opposite, Montgomery being the more northern 
of the two. South of the location of the forts stood 
Dunderberg Mountain, outpost of the highlands of the 
Hudson. The river was obstructed by a boom and 
chain opposite Fort Montgomery and protected from 
British approach by two frigates on the northern side 
of the chain. 

Forts Clinton and Montgomery were under the 
command of General James Clinton, brother of the 
recently-elected Governor George Clinton of New 
York, at this moment attending a session of the legis- 
lature at Kingston. Hearing of the approach of the 
British against the forts, he adjourned the legislature 

148 



P3 

H 

O 

H 
, O 



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H 

i en 
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WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

and hastened to his brother's assistance with such mihtia 
as he could gather. 

This completes the convocation of the Clintons in 
this engagement; Sir Henry Clinton, in command of 
the British forces, General James Clinton, in command 
of the two western forts ; and Governor George Clinton, 
hastening to the aid of brother James at Fort Clinton. 

The approach of the British caused General Put- 
nam to place his Continentals on the eastern shore be- 
hind Peekskill and to bring over from the western shore 
a large force to reinforce his own. The British galleys 
advanced far enough up the river to prevent communica- 
tion between the two American bodies, and it then 
became plain that it had been the hope of the English 
commander to cause the Americans to divide their 
forces by making a feint at the eastern shore where 
Putnam supposed that the strength of the British 
would be. The Americans had played into his hands. 
On the morning of the 6th of October Sir Henry 
Clinton landed his main forces on the western shore, 
and by sending a detachment around Dunderberg 
Mountain managed to attack Forts Clinton and Mont- 
gomery from the rear while another force engaged them 
from the south. 

The result of this engagement was that while the 
Americans fought pluckily they were overcome by the 
British, with a loss of 250 killed, wounded and missing, 
as opposed to the British casualty list of 40 killed and 

149 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



150 wounded, and that the two western forts fell into 
the hands of the English. The boom and chain across 
the river were destroyed, and the British fleet sailed up 
the river and attacked Fort Constitution on Constitu- 
tion Island opposite West Point. Fort Constitution 
was hastily abandoned. 

Such a signal success on Sir Henry Clinton's part 
should have caused him to push quickly on to effect a 
junction with Burgoyne, who had written him of his 
desperate straits at the northern end of the Hudson, 
but, having done this much, the English knight seemed 
to think that nothing more was expected of him, for, 
beyond sending a marauding expedition up the Hudson 
as far as Kingston, he made no further northern ad- 
vance and retired to New York with his entire force. 
Had he joined Burgoyne in time to prevent the capitu- 
lation of the latter, it is probable that the whole history 
of this country would have been written in another 
fashion from that date. 

Fort Constitution, which held so short an argument 
with the British fleet opposite West Point, was the 
first fortification of the series of works which lie in the 
vicinity of West Point. In August, 1775, a commit- 
tee appointed by the State of New York and consist- 
ing of Isaac Sears, John Berrien, Christopher Miller, 
Captain Samuel Bayard and Captain William Bedlow, 
began the erection of forts and batteries in the vicinity 
of West Point. As an adviser to this committee Ber- 

150 



WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

nard Romans, an English engineer, was employed, and 
under his direction Martelaer's rock, now Constitution 
Island, was chosen for the site of the principal forti- 
fication. The fort, which was commenced under 
Romans's supervision but finished by another military 
architect, was named Constitution and cost altogether 
about $25,000. The remains of the fort are still visible 
on the island, the outlines of the walls being discernible, 
with the location of the principal point. 

After the retreat of Sir Henry Clinton from before 
West Point, — a voluntary retreat, it should be ob- 
served, — ^the Americans saw that they must strengthen 
their defences at this place. Anxious to have the passes 
here strongly guarded, General Washington wrote to 
General Putnam, asking that he would give his most 
particular attention to the matter. Duty called Put- 
nam to Connecticut and little was done in the matter 
until the arrival of General Macdougal, who took com- 
mand on March 20, 1778, by whom West Point was 
approved as the location of the principal defences. 

There now comes upon the scene the Polish patriot 
Kosciuszko, who had been appointed to succeed a 
French engineer, La Radierre, in the Hudson High- 
lands and who had taken up his new duties coincident- 
ally with the arrival of General Macdougal. Kos- 
ciuszko pushed forward the construction of the works 
with great vigor. 

151 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The principal redoubt was constructed of logs and 
earth, was 600 feet around within the walls, and its 
embankments were 14 feet high with a base of 21 feet. 
The work was situated on a cliff which rises 187 feet 
above the river, and upon its completion in May was 
named Fort Clinton. The remains of Fort Clinton are 
carefully preserved to-day and comprise that line of 
grass-covered mounds which edge the eastern side of 
the plateau on which West Point Academy is situated. 
In the midst of these quiet green mounds stands a monu- 
ment to Kosciuszko, erected by the corps of cadets of 
1828. From the ruins a beautiful view of the Hudson 
is to be obtained, though the new buildings of the Acad- 
emy cut off much which formerly was contained in the 
view from this point. 

To support Fort Clinton works were constructed 
and batteries placed on the hills and mountains of 
West Point. On Mount Independence, which over- 
hangs the military school, a strong fort was built and 
named, when completed, Fort Putnam, in honor of the 
sturdy patriot of Connecticut. 

The remains of Fort Putnam, or " Old Put," as it 
came to be known in the neighborhood, were for many 
years the scene of picnickers' journeys up the steep 
hill-side whose crest it crowns and for many years were 
allowed to lie in a condition of disorder and decay. Of 
recent years the United States Government has taken 
in hand the old works and has restored them to as near 

152 



1=^.^(5 .■; 




WJt 



I 




Fort Putnam's Rocky Interior 



Kosciuszko Monument 




TheNorth Wall, "Old Put" 
SKETCH SNAP-SHOTS OF WEST POINTS HISTORIC MEMORIALS 



WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

their original condition as can be learned. The walls 
have been rebuilt where necessary and the brick case- 
mates relaid. The result is that Fort Putnam to-day is 
the best preserved and most interesting of the souvenirs . 
of the war-like days of West Point. p^ 

A rocky, inhospitable looking, irregular stone en- 
closure, Fort Putnam to-day gives one a very good idea 
of the stern, rude conditions with which our forefathers 
labored in the founding of our republic. From the 
walls of the fort a most enchanting prospect is to be 
gained from any direction, enchanting to either the 
lover of beautiful natural scenery or to the lover of his- 
toric memorials; for the Hudson Valley and its tower- 
ing hills lie out before one to any point of the compass. 
Upon the points of these high hills were located bat- 
teries and strong works in the days when Putnam was 
young, each battery and work with its quota of rough 
colonial militia determined to fight to the last man 
against the trained soldiers of Em-ope. South of Fort 
Putnam were two small works known as Fort Wyllys 
and Fort Webb upon the eminences to be seen from 
" Put." On the crown of Sugar Loaf Mountain was a 
redoubt known as South Battery. 

In addition to the construction of Forts Clinton and 
Putnam and their supporting batteries. Fort Constitu- 
tion was strengthened and re-garrisoned, and between 
West Point and Constitution Island was stretched a 
huge iron chain, links of which are preserved in the 

153 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



museum at West Point. The chain was ip^anufactured 
by Peter Townshend, of the Stirhng Iron Works, 
Orange County, and was made of links two feet in 
length and in weight over 140 pounds each. 

At the close of 1779 West Point was considered the 
strongest military post in America, and a large quantity 
of gunpowder, provisions and munitions of war was 
collected there. These considerations, in addition to 
the strategic value of the place, made of it a great prize 
for the enemy, who tried in various ways to seize it for 
his own. Yet the great menace to the place lay not 
without, where the British soldiers were, but within, 
and the story of that fact is one of the saddest things 
of American history. 

The treason of Benedict Arnold had its setting at 
West Point, though its foundations were laid months 
before he assumed command of this important locale. 
Indeed, at the moment of Arnold's appointment to the 
command of West Point, the American general had 
been in correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton for 
eighteen months. 

It is supposed that the defection of Arnold and his 
plans for the surrender of West Point began in Phila- 
delphia during the winter of 1778, when he was ap- 
pointed governor-general of that city after the evacua- 
tion by the British. Fond of show and feeling the 
importance of his station, he began to live in style far 
beyond his income, and pecuniary embarrassments 

154 



WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

began to multiply around him. He lived in the mansion 
that had once sheltered William Penn (and which is still 
standing) , kept a coach and four, and gave splendid ban- 
quets. When impatient creditors began to press him 
for funds, he resorted to devious ways of raising money. 
So open did the scandal become of his indecent use of 
his position for private gain that charges were laid 
against him before Congress implying abuse of power, 
and the whole matter was handed over to Washington 
to have tried before a military tribunal. The verdict 
in the trial was rendered January 26, 1780, after a 
lengthy consideration of the case, and two of the four 
charges against Arnold were sustained. Washington 
was ordered to reprimand the officer, convicted by a 
jury of his peers, and did so in as kind a fashion as ever 
a reprimand was given. Indeed, at the time, Washing- 
ton, himself, came in for censure because his reprimand 
was so ambiguously worded that it might be construed 
to praise the impetuous warrior who had fought for 
the new republic rather than to reprove the errant ad- 
ministrator. However, from this time it is supposed 
that Arnold planned to benefit himself and to deal the 
American cause a vital blow. 

The military importance of West Point being plain, 
it was equally plain that the British would be willing 
to pay handsomely for its surrender. Arnold settled 
upon the place as the prize that his treachery should 
hold out to the English, and by various pieces of wire- 

155 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



pulling succeeded in having himself appointed its com- 
mander-in-chief. The general opinion of this American 
leader then was that he was headstrong and self-willed 
but not characterless. His impetuosity and violence 
were esteemed good qualities, which fitted him for the 
work of the soldier while they unfitted him for admin- 
istrative duties. His good will toward his fellow-coun- 
trymen was not doubted. In August, 1780, Arnold 
took command of West Point and made his head- 
quarters in a rambling old house which had belonged 
to Colonel Beverly Robinson, Colonel Robinson having 
espoused the English side of the quarrel during the 
Revolutionary War and having been obliged to take 
refuge in the English lines in consequence. 

The chief correspondent of Arnold in the English 
ranks was Major Andre, and for a long time Sir Henry 
Clinton did not know the identity of the American gen- 
eral with whom Andre was in communication. To his 
mijssives Arnold affixed the signature of Gustavus and 
wrote in the character of a commercial correspondent 
of a business house. Andre on his part signed his letters 
John Anderson. 

The general plan by which Clinton was to take 
possession of West Point through Arnold's connivance 
had many ramifications, but its chief text as concerns 
us was that Clinton should make a strong demonstra- 
tion against the post and that Arnold, after a weak de- 
fence, should yield it to him. The final negotiations 

156 



WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

which touched the amount of money which Arnold was 
to receive for his treachery were concluded by Clinton 
through the intermediation of Andre, who assumed the 
guise of a spy in order to carry out his commander's 
behests. It was while returning from this trip to 
Arnold's headquarters and but one day before the drama 
was to be consummated that Andre fell into the hands 
of American forces and the papers which he bore were 
brought to light. 

The morning of the 24th, the day set by Arnold 
for his surrender to Clinton, dawned bright and fine. 
Washington was expected at Arnold's headquarters 
from Hartford. As he sat at breakfast Arnold re- 
ceived a message from Colonel Jameson, stationed to 
the south, which contained the intelligence not that the 
British were approaching, but that a Major Andre had 
been captured. Hastily asking to be excused, Arnold 
made his way to the room of his young wife, the beau- 
tiful Margaret Shippen, of Philadelphia, and bade her 
a brief farewell ; then he let himself out of the house by 
a back way and took a short path to the water-shore 
where he simimoned a boatman and had himself rowed 
to the British fleet. Washington arrived at Arnold's 
headquarters in time to gather up the loose ends of 
things and prevent the dreadful catastrophe that the 
loss of the strongest of the American positions would 
have meant. 

157 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



It has been claimed that the influence of Arnold's 
wife, who was of a Tory family and had been an ardent 
British sympathizer before her marriage, had much to 
do with Arnold's desertion from the cause he had first 
embraced. There is no evidence to finally set at rest 
this conjecture. Margaret Shippen had many friends 
amongst the British officers and Major Andre was the 
chief amongst these friends, but there is no reason to 
believe that she was base at heart, that she was not de- 
voted to her husband, or that she could not realize how 
utter would be his undoing. After his downfall she re- 
joined him in New York and shared with him patiently 
all of the contempt and odium that were his portion for 
the rest of his life, from American and English alike. 

The military academy at West Point was established 
by Act of Congress which became law March 16, 1802. 
The establishment of such a place had been proposed 
to Congress by Washington in 1793, and even before 
the close of the Revolution he had suggested such an 
institution and had even fixed on West Point as the 
location. Little was done in the matter even after the 
act of Congress of 1802, until in 1812, by a second 
enactment, a corps of engineers and teachers was or- 
ganized and the school actually started. The beautiful 
buildings of the Academy are the fruit of the last gen- 
eration's labor. 

Stony Point lies south of West Point, separating 

158 



WEST POINT AND STONY POINT 

Peekskill Bay on the north from Haverstraw Bay on 
the south. Opposite is Verplanck's Point. The rivey 
here is very narrow. In 1779 Clinton had strongly forti- 
fied Stony Point, thus cutting off West Point's com- 
munications from the south and establishing a strong 
base from which to proceed against that place. Wash- 
ington saw that Stony Point must be captured. 

To carry out his bold scheme — for the spot was 
deemed impregnable to assault — he called upon General 
Anthony Wayne — " Mad " Anthony — and asked him if 
he would undertake such a commission. " General, I'll 
storm hell if you'll only plan it," Wayne is said to have 
replied. 

The situation of Stony Point was a fortress in itself. 
At high tide it was practically an island, the ravine on 
the shore side through which the railroad passes now-a- 
days being then a marshy inlet of the river. From the 
river the rock rose precipitously, and was at its highest 
point 700 feet above tide. 

The assault was made under cover of darkness, July 
15, 1779, the American forces advancing secretly under 
the guidance of an old negro who had learned the watch- 
word of the fort for that night. This watchword 
was, " The Fort's Our Own." The phrase has been 
carved above the doorway of the reservation, where it 
may be seen by all visitors to-day. One by one the 
sentries were approached and overpowered, and the 

159 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Americans were almost within the walls before their 
presence was discovered. By two o'clock on the morning 
of July 16 the fort was the possession of the assailants. 

The stores of the English were destroyed and the 
post was evacuated. 

Stony Point is now a public reservation of the State 
of New York. The battle-ground is in charge of the 
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 
which has marked the locality of the redoubts and of 
interesting points. 






FORT CONSTITUTION 
(FORT WILLIAM AND MARY) 

GREAT ISLAND NEAR PORTSMOUTH— NEW HAMPSHIRE 




HE records of the War Depart- 
ment at Washington say that 
Fort Constitution reservation 
" contains twelve acres. It is 
situated on a rocky projection 
in the Piscataqua River at the 
entrance to the harbor of the 
City of Portsmouth. It is about three miles below the 
city on the west side of the river, on the eastern end of 
' Great Island,' being the most eastern end of New 
Hampshire. It was formerly an English fort called 
* William and Mary ' and was occupied by United 
States troops in 1806." 

The location of Fort Constitution may be fixed more 
exactly by saying that it is very close to Newcastle, one 
of the outlying dependencies of Portsmouth. A long 
low stone structure thrust out on a wave-washed spit 
of rock, its picturesque appearance stimulates the fancy 
of every visitor who approaches Portsmouth by water. 
Adjoining the fort is a light-house erected in 1771, 
and on a rocky eminence overlooking the fort is a 
ruined martello tower of striking aspect. 

The history of Fort Constitution goes back to the 
early beginnings of settlement on the New England 
coast. In 1665 the commissioners of King Charles II 

11 161 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



began to erect a fortification on the point here, but were 
halted by the prohibitions of the Massachusetts fathers. 
In 1700 there existed a fort on Great Island and prob- 
ably on the site of the present structure. This fort was 
visited by the Earl of Bellemont and declared by him 
incapable of defending the river, notwithstanding the 
fact that it mounted thirty guns. 

A new defensive structure was planned by Colonel 
Romer, who recommended as additional works a strong 
tower on the point of Fryer's (Gerrish's) Island and 
batteries on Wood and Clark's Islands. His main 
plans were carried out and with slight alterations 
formed the fortification which was known at the time 
of the Revolutionary ferment as Castle William and 
Mary, its name sufficiently emphasizing the period of 
its conception. While Castle William and Mary had 
an honorable career in a passive fashion during the 
French wars by frightening off French descents upon 
the flourishing little city which it guards, it does not 
spring into the lime-light until 1774, when it becomes 
the scene of the first capture of arms made by the 
Americans in the struggle against the Mother Country. 

In the year we have under consideration the Gov- 
ernor of New Hampshire was the able and passionate 
Sir John Wentworth. An account of the seizure of 
the supplies at Fort William and Mary may be suc- 
cinctly given by means of extracts from Sir John's 
letters of that period, a series of which was published 

162 



FORT CONSTITUTION 



in 1869, in the ** Historical and Genealogical Register " 
by the Honorable John Wentworth, of Chicago. 

In a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, dated Ports- 
mouth, December 20, 1774!, Governor Wentworth says: 

On Tuesday the 13th instant, in the afternoon, one Paul 
Revere arrived with letters from some of the leaders in Boston 
to Mr. Samuel Cutts, merchant, of this town. Reports were 
soon circulated that the Fort at Rhode Island had been dis- 
mantled and the Gunpowder and other military stores removed 
up to Providence and ... it was also falsely given out that 
Troops were embarking at Boston to come and take possession 
of William and Mary Castle in this harbour. These rumors 
soon raised an alarm in the town; and although I did not ex- 
pect that the people would be so audacious as to make any at- 
tack on the castle yet I sent orders to the captain at the fort to 
be upon his guard. 

On Wednesday news was brought to me that a drum was 
beating about the town to collect the populace together in order 
to go and take away the Gunpowder and dismantle the Fort. 
I immediately sent the Chief Justice of the Province to warn 
them from engaging in such an attempt. He went to them 
where they were collected in the centre of the town near the 
townhouse, explained to them the nature of the offence they 
proposed to commit, told them it was not short of Rebellion and 
intreated them to desist from it and to disperse. But all to no 
purpose. They went to the island and, being joined by the 
inhabitants of the towns of Newcastle and Rye, formed in a body 
of about four hundred men and the Castle being in too weak a 
condition for defence (as I have in former letters explained to 
your lordship) they forced their entrance in spite of Captain 
Cochrane who defended it as long as he could; but having only 

163 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the assistance of five men their numbers overpowered him. 
After they entered the Fort they seized upon the captain and 
triumphantly gave three huzzas and hauled down the King's 
colours. They then put the captain and men under confine- 
ment, broke open the Gunpowder magazine and carried off 
about 100 barrels of Gunpowder but discharged the Captain 
and men from their confinement before their departure. 

On Thursday, the 15th, in the morning a party of men 
came from the country accompanied by Mr. (Gen. John) 
Sullivan one of the New Hampshire delegates to the Congress, 
to take away the cannon from the Fort, also. Mr. Sullivan 
declared that he had taken pains to prevail upon them to re- 
turn home again; and said, as there was no certain intelligence 
of troops being coming to take possession of the Castle, he 
would still use his utmost endeavors to disperse them. 

While the town was thus full of men a committee from them 
came to me to solicit pardon or a suspension of prosecution 
against the persons who took away the Gunpowder. I told 
them I could not promise them any such thing ; but if they dis- 
persed and restored the gunpowder, which I most earnestly 
exhorted them to do, I said I hoped His Majesty may be thereby 
induced to consider it an alleviation of the offence. They 
parted from me, in all appearance, perfectly disposed to follow 
the advice I had given them; and having proceeded directly to 
the rest of their associates they all publickly voted ... to 
return home. . . . 

But, instead of dispersing, the people went to the Castle 
in the night headed by Mr. Sullivan and took away sixteen 
pieces of cannon, about sixty muskets and other military stores 
and brought them to the out Borders of the town. 

On Friday morning, the 16th, Mr. Folsom, the other dele- 
gate, came to town that morning with a great number of armed 

164 



FORT CONSTITUTION 



men who remained in Town as a guard till the flow of the tide in 
the evening when the cannon were sent in Gondolas up the river 
into the country and they all dispersed without having done 
any personal injury to any body in the town. 

On the Fourth of July, 1809, an explosion of powder 
took place at Fort Constitution in which four men and 
three boys were killed and a number of bystanders 
wounded. The cause of the explosion was the care- 
lessness of a sergeant with a lighted fuse, and the 
unlucky hour that he chose for his celebration was a 
time when his colonel (Colonel Walbach) had a number 
of guests to dinner. None of the diners were injured, 
and a quaint contemporary account tells their natural 
distress at various of the phenomena around them. 
** One poor fellow," says this account, " was carried 
over the roof of the house and the upper half of his 
body lodged on the opposite side near the window of 
the dining-room ; the limb of another was driven through 
a thick door over the dining-room leaving a hole in the 
door the shape of the foot." 

The appearance of Fort Constitution to-day is not 
very warlike and it does not play a very active part 
in the city's defences. The walls of the older part of 
the fort are of rough stone topped with brick. Over 
the arch of the sally-port here is a date, 1808. These 
walls have been partly enclosed by unfinished walls of 
granite of later construction. 

The martello tower, to which reference has already 

165 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



been had, was constructed during the War of 1812 
and was begun one Sunday morning while two British 
cruisers were lying oiF the Isle of Shoals. Its pur- 
pose was to prevent a landing on the beach at the south 
side of the main work. An assault on that work was 
not attempted at the time, but who can say that the 
promptness of the New Hampshiremen in thus adding 
to their defences in the face of the enemy did not have 
its moral value in forestalling an attack? The tower 
had three embrasures. 



\^' 



FORTS TRUMBULL AND GRISWOLD 

NEW LONDON AND GROTON. ON THE THAMES— CONNECTICUT 




HE sunny waters of the Thames 
at New London, Connecticut, 
present a smiling aspect, and 
from the high flag-staff of trig 
little Fort Trumbull the stars 
and stripes float gaily. Across the 
river on the hill above the little 
town of Groton is the State reservation containing the 
remains of Fort Griswold, with rough zig-zag paths 
approaching the summit of the hill. Adjacent to Fort 
Griswold is the stone monument which conmiemorates 
the Fort Griswold massacre. Many sunny years will 
not wipe out the memory of the bloody deeds of that 
violent hour. 

Fort Trumbull is situated one mile from the mouth 
of the Thames River and one mile and a half below the 
little city of New London, with whose history it is asso- 
ciated. A modest work of substantial construction, it 
covers only thirteen acres and is so restricted for living 
space that it cannot accommodate a full garrison within 
its walls. Fort Griswold is a work of far more ancient 
and rougher construction. It is not garrisoned to-day 
and has not been garrisoned for many years, though in 
the fighting days of the two forts it was the more 
important of the two places. 

The little village of New London is a favored water- 
ier 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ing place for many in summer and its safe and acces- 
sible harbor has made it desirable as a haven for the 
storage of summer light craft during the winter months. 
These same considerations hold true of Groton on the 
other side of the river. Thousands of visitors every 
summer go over the historic defences of Fort Griswold 
or gaze upon the equally historic site of Fort Trumbull. 

The erection of two forts was begun in 1775 by the 
citizens of New London and Groton, one on the west 
side of the Thames which was designated in the cor- 
respondence of the time as a " block-house with em- 
brasures," and the other, a more pretentious work, on 
the east side of the river and designated at once " Fort 
Trumbull." In 1776 Washington directed General 
Knox to examine the harbor of New London. This 
gentleman carried out his commission in workmanlike 
fashion and reported that the harbor was a safe and 
well-protected retreat for vessels in any wind that blew. 
The harbor is three miles long and seldom encumbered 
with ice. 

In that same year Captain Shapley was ordered to 
take command of Fort Trumbull, and Colonel William 
Ledyard of Fort Griswold on Groton Hill. Later, 
Ledyard was placed in command of the two positions. 
In 1777 he revised, strengthened and enlarged Fort 
Trumbull, and in 1778 performed this same work upon 
Fort Griswold. Under his direction, in 1779, strong 
works were thrown up on Town Hill, New London. 

168 




Fort Griswold, Groton 




Fort Trumbull, New London 
HISTORIC POINTS ON THE THAMES RIVER, CONN. 



. 



FORT TRUMBULL 



Finally, in 1780, the assembly of New London ordered 
his accounts paid. 

The successful operations of the Continental forces 
in Virginia in 1781 caused Sir Henry Clinton to cast 
about for some means of distracting his opponents and 
of recalling Washington from the South, preferably 
by some deed of enterprise in the North. He fixed on 
New London as the scene of operations, as he had 
heard that there were many stores in the little town, 
and as the leader of the expedition he picked out 
Benedict Arnold, the traitor, who had just returned 
from scenes of pillage on the James River, Virginia. 
The choice of Arnold may have appealed to some 
saturnine sense of humor in Clinton, as Connecticut, 
it may be remembered, was Arnold's native State and 
New London not far from the scenes of his boyhood. 

The little works at New London and Groton, de- 
spite the conscientious efforts of Colonel Ledyard, 
were not positions of much consequence. Fort Trum- 
bull, we are told, was merely a strong breastwork of 
three sides, and open in the rear, mounting eighteen 
12-pound guns and three 6-pound guns. Its garrison 
numbered twenty-three men. Fort Griswold was some- 
what more formidable, being " an oblong square with 
bastions at opposite angles, its longest side fronting 
the river in a northwest and southeast direction, its 
walls of stone 10 or 12 feet high on the lower side and 
surrounded by a ditch; in the wall pickets projected 

169 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



over for 12 feet; above, a parapet with embrasures and 
within a platform for cannon, with a step to mount to 
shoot over the parapet with small arms." 

In addition to these, — the main defences — there was 
the little work on the summit of Town Hill, New 
London, which mounted six small-bore guns and which 
had become known by the airy title of " Fort Nonsense." 

It being manifestly impossible to hold Fort Trum- 
bull with a force of twenty-three men, the Americans, 
on the approach of Arnold and the British, took all of 
their forces and placed them in Fort Griswold. At its 
best the garrison of this point was not as numerous as 
the attacking body and it was made up of imtrained 
militia gathered at the moment's call. 

The result of the battle, when battle was finally 
given, was a foregone conclusion. The British soldiery 
landed September 6, 1781, and advanced in force. The 
plucky American garrison tried desperately to hold 
back the onslaught, fighting most of the men in sight 
of their own homes, but without effect. After a sharp 
engagement the fort was taken and the conclusion of 
the combat was a signal to Arnold's forces for an in- 
discriminate slaughter of the Americans, many of whom 
had thrown down their arms. Of the 160 men making 
up the garrison all but 40 were killed or wounded, 
and the vast majority of them after resistance had 
ceased. The wounded, contemporary testimony asserts, 
were placed in carts under Arnold's direction and 

170 



FORT GRISWOLD 



dumped over the edge of the hill here which is very 
steep. 

The British then entered Groton and New London 
and set them on fire. Arnold finally led his forces back 
to New York. 

To commemorate the gallant defence of Fort Gris- 
wold and the terrible scenes which it had witnessed, the 
State of Connecticut began the erection of a monu- 
ment on Groton Heights in 1830 and carried the shaft 
to the height of 127 feet. At this height the monu- 
ment rested until 1881, when it was carried eight feet 
higher. On the face of the shaft is a tablet which 
bears the following inscription: 

This monument was erected under the patronage of the 
State of Connecticut, a.d. 1830 and in the 55th year of the 
independence of the United States, in memory of the brave pa- 
triots who fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold on this spot on 
the 6th of September, a.d. 1781, when the British under the 
command of the traitor Benedict Arnold burnt the towns of 
New London and Groton and spread desolation and woe 
throughout this region. 

Various spots in the little grounds of the fort have 
been marked with tablets. The grounds are carefully 
maintained and are open to visitors at all times. 

Though no effort was ever made to rebuild Fort 
Griswold, a like fate did not befall Fort Trumbull. At 
the outbreak of the War of 1812 the embankments of 
Fort Trumbull were nothing but green mounds. A 

171 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



formal work was commenced, leaving the old block- 
house inside the new lines. During this war the fort 
was often threatened but never attacked. 

An anecdote which shows the spirit of the locality 
is retailed by Lossing : ^ 

When the British squadron which drove Decatur into the 
harbor of New London in 1813 menaced the town with bom- 
bardment the military force that manned the forts were defi- 
cient in flannel for cannon cartridges. All that could be found 
in New London was sent to the forts and a Mr. Latham, a neigh- 
bor of Mrs. Anna Bailey's, came to her at Groton seeking for 
more. She started out and collected all the petticoats of little 
children that she could find in town. " This is not half enough,'* 
said Mr. Latham on her return. " You shall have mine too," 
said Mrs. Bailey as she cut with her scissors the string that 
fastened it, and taking it off gave it to Latham. He was satis- 
fied, and, hastening to Fort Trumbull, that patriotic contribu- 
tion was soon made into cartridges. " It was a heavy new one 
but I did not care for that," said the old lady while her eyes 
sparkled. " All I wanted was to see it go through the English- 
men's insides." Some of Decatur's men declared that it was 
a shame to cut that petticoat into cartridge patterns ; they 
would rather see it fluttering at the mast-head of the United 
States or the Macedonia as an ensign under which to fight upon 
the broad ocean. 

The present Fort Trumbull was begun in 1839 on 
the foimdations of its two predecessors and finished at 
a cost of $250,000. Part of the old block-house of the 
first Fort Trumbull is still preserved in the confines 
of the present fort. 

'Lossing, vol. i, p. 617. 



FORT MIFFLIN 

ON THE DELAWARE— PHILADELPHIA 




VISIT to Fort Mifflin, Mud 
Island, on the Delaware River, 
Pennsylvania, to-day reveals a 
star-shaped fort of familiar pat- 
tern and of most substantial con- 
struction. It has the distinction 
of being within the corporate limits 
of one of the largest cities on the continent of North 
America, — Philadelphia, — yet a more deserted or for- 
lorn looking spot it would be hard to imagine. Without 
benefit of policemen or any of the familiar marks of a 
great city, it might well serve in a " movie " for an 
ancient stronghold in a desert waste and may have been 
discovered by some enterprising movie manufacturer 
before these words are in print. Not always quiet, how- 
ever, Fort Mifflin was the scene of one of the heaviest 
cannonadings of the War of Independence, when it 
sturdily held off the combined English naval and land 
forces until its own walls were reduced to powder. 

The ground on which the Fort Mifflin of to-day 
stands was deeded to the Federal government by the 
State of Pennsylvania in 1795, and the present works 
were commenced in 1798. As the strategic advantage 
and the ease of fortification of the point had been amply 
demonstrated during the Revolution, a large and strong 
fortress was built and garrisoned until changing con- 

173 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ditions of warfare caused its importance to be a thing 
of the past and its garrison to be withdrawn in 1853. 
During the Civil War the fort was garrisoned by a 
volunteer regiment and served as a detention place for 
prisoners taken during that conflict, but this structure 
saw no service in this war and, indeed, has never fired 
a shot in anger. After the Civil War the place was 
deserted, though the government has ever since kept 
a care-taker there. The government land reservation 
includes over three hundred acres. In other parts of 
the island are more modern government stations, but 
in these we have no present interest. 

The old fortification is surrounded by a deep moat 
over which are bridges leading to its three sally-ports. 
Only one of these entrances is open now. Passing 
through the thick walls of this entrance, one finds one's 
self facing a large parade ground, which is surrounded 
by quaint, old-fashioned structures — the barracks and 
officers' quarters of a by-gone day. On the south of 
the parade is a very charming little Georgian chapel, 
through whose broken window-panes pour in damp 
winds. 

In the casemates of the old fort were confined 
Morgan's men during the Civil War. It is a dark and 
dismal trip to the damp rooms in which these men were 
confined, as one goes through narrow subterranean cor- 
ridors beneath the thick walls of the fort. One comes 
to a large cavernous chamber lighted from above by a 

174 



FORT MIFFLIN 



single narrow slit. At one end of this chamber is an 
open fire-place. On the walls are scribbled numerous 
names and messages from Morgan's men. It might 
perhaps be an interesting matter to copy down these 
names and messages, if one had the patience and time 
to do so, but hardly a task within the province of this 
chapter. May be the room was cheerful enough in the 
days of its use with the big fire-place containing a roar- 
ing fire, but it is dismal now, in all conscience! 

From the walls of Fort Mifflin there is a fine view 
of the Delaware River. Natives of the neighborhood 
say that the marshes round about yield fine gunning 
during the season. Directly across the Delaware from 
Fort Mifflin — the river being about a mile wide, here — 
are the remains of Fort Mercer and the outworks which 
made up this strong little post in the days of the Revo- 
lution. Fort Mercer and its earthworks are preserved 
by the nation, forming a public reservation which annu- 
ally receives many visitors. 

The ancient Whitall house — a two-story building 
of red brick — still stands at Fort Mercer, reminding 
one of the intrepid old lady who occupied it during the 
battle. Old Mrs. Whitall was urged to flee from the 
house but refused, saying, " God's arm is strong and 
will protect me; I may do good by staying." She was 
left alone in the house and, while the battle was raging 
and cannon-balls were driving like sleet against her 
dwelling, calmly plied her spinning-wheel. At length 

175 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



a twelve-pound ball from a vessel in the river, grazing 
the American flag-staiF (a walnut tree), at the fort, 
passed at the north gable througli a heavy brick wall, 
perforated a partition at the head of the stairs, crossed 
a recess, and lodged in another partition near where the 
old lady was sitting. Conceiving Divine protection a 
little more certain elsewhere after this manifestation of 
the power of gunpowder, the old lady gathered up her 
spinning implements and with a step as agile as youth 
retreated to the cellar, where, not to be pushed out of 
her house by any circumstance, she continued her spin- 
ning as industriously as before. When the wounded 
and dying were brought to her house to be cared for, 
she went industriously at the work of succor, not caring 
whether she tended friend or foe. She scolded the 
Hessians vigorously for coming to this country on a 
work of butchery, and at the same time ministered to 
their sufferings. 

The third American redoubt lay farther down the 
river at Billingsport. 

It will be recalled that Howe, with his English 
regulars and Hessians, spent the winter of 1776-77 
in New York with occasional forays from that point. 
In July, 1777, after a trial of wits with Washington 
in northern New Jersey, he embarked his troops and 
set sail to the south. Washington's uneasiness as to 
the whereabouts of his foe was set at rest after three 
weeks by hearing of the landing of Howe at the head 

176 



FORT MIFFLIN 



of the Chesapeake Bay. There then ensued the battle 
of the Brandy wine and that series of skirmishes which 
ended in Howe's taking possession ' of Philadelphia, 
then the capital of the country, with the removal of the 
American official papers to York. 

To secure his position and keep his lines open in 
Philadelphia, however, it was necessary for Howe to 
take the American positions at Billingsport, at Fort 
Mercer and at Fort Mifflin. The works at Billingsport 
fell quickly before a surprise attack, and it now re- 
mained to take Mifflin and Mercer. 

The garrison at Mercer consisted of two Rhode 
Island regiments under Colonel Christopher Greene. 
At Mifflin there was about the same number of the 
Maryland line under Lieutenant- Colonel Samuel 
Smith. The American fleet in the river consisted 
chiefly of galleys and floating batteries, and was 
anchored ofl" the present League Island. It was under 
the command of Commodore Hazlewood. 

Count Donop, with 1200 picked Hessians, was sent 
by Howe to take Fort Mercer. On the morning of 
October 24, he appeared before the little fort. Though 
the Americans had only 400 men with fourteen cannon 
they were not dismayed but stood to their arms. The 
battle commenced at four o'clock in the afternoon and 
raged with great fierceness. It resulted in the repulse 
of the assailants and the death of their commander, 

12 177 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Count Donop, to whom a monument has been erected 
at Fort Mercer Park. 

The firing of the first gun against Fort Mercer 
was the signal for the British fleet to open upon Fort 
Mifflin. A heavy cannonade continued until the British 
were obliged to draw off. A hot shot struck one of 
their large ships, the Augusta, and this vessel burned 
to the water's edge. 

For a season the Americans held undisputed pos- 
session of their section of the Delaware, but then the 
British returned the charge with increased force. Fort 
Mifflin was made the centre of attack. Batteries were 
posted upon Province Island, — now a part of the main- 
land directly off Mud Island on which the little fort 
stood, — and on this side the fort was not finished. A 
large floating battery was also brought up the river 
within forty yards of one angle of the fort. Altogether 
the British had fourteen strong batteries, in addition 
to four 64-gun and two 40-gun ships. The engage- 
ment opened on the 10th of November and continued 
for six consecutive days without interruption. In the 
course of the last day more than a thousand discharges 
of cannon were made against the little fort on Mud 
Island. By this time there was little left of its walls 
and no single chance of the garrison holding out longer. 
The officer in command escaped to Fort Mercer with 
the remnants of his force. It is said that the British 
were preparing to draw away from Fort Mifflin and 

178 



FORT MIFFLIN 



had made up their minds to give up the siege, but 
information from a deserter caused them to keep on 
for the few days necessary to reduce the weakened 
stronghold. 

So strong a force was now sent against Fort Mercer 
that Colonel Greene was obliged to evacuate that post, 
leaving behind some guns and ammunition with mihtary 
stores. 

The American fleet sought safety in flight up the 
Delaware. One brig and two sloops escaped to Bur- 
lington. Seventeen other vessels, unable to escape, were 
abandoned by their crews and burned at Gloucester, 
just across from the Philadelphia of to-day. 

The Delaware River and Philadelphia were now 
in the hands of Howe. For a long winter he was to 
lie inactive while Washington took up position at Val- 
ley Forge and spent that historic winter with his men 
of which so much has been written. Instead of work- 
ing for the future the British spent their time in balls 
and the Meschianza. Let Americans of to-day be thank- 
ful that they found Philadelphia manners and Phila- 
delphia belles so altogether delightful! 



73 



/// 



^ 



FORT Mchenry 

BALTIMORE 




HE spot whereon the flag- staff 
stood which bore the stars and 
stripes that fervid morning upon 
which Francis Scott Key arose, 
saw that our flag was still there 
and jotted down the national 
anthem on the back of an en- 
velope before going down to breakfast, still conspires 
with a large and lusty successor of this first staff to 
keep Old Glory flying in the heavens. The immediate 
surroimdings, the harbor outlook, the busy city now 
sending its clamor over the point on which the old fort 
stands, all have changed in the years, but the part of 
the fort from which the banner of the new republic 
was sent forth so many years ago has undergone little 
transformation. A triangle of ground pointing toward 
open water, and a bare staff, these have little that Time 
can work wizardry with. The simple focus of Key's 
inspiration has not been lost in the years, but the rest 
of the picture which roused his songster's mood is only 
to be brought back by effort of imagination. 

Fort McHenry is now a public park, the last federal 
trooper having been drawn out of the reservation in the 
fall of 1913. As such it has been beautified by the 
City of Baltimore, if the placing of benches in con- 
venient spots, the sodding of terraces, and the clean- 

180 



BSnHHHIHIHi^^lH* i 


H 




^ U^ -Ife^ ^■■■" 


'~-' -^ _A^:,..- -;^«i^a;5g,*-rdiiP 




- 


"-.^|L*^"\ _ I ^;^g*^ 





A View from an Aeroplane 




The Guard-House 
FORT McHENRY, BALTIMORE, MD. 



FORT McHENRY 



ing of walks are to be considered in the nature of beauti- 
fication; and it is occasionally used by Baltimoreans as 
a place of airing. Situated on a point of land separat- 
ing the two parts of Baltimore's heart-shaped harbor, 
it gives charming views of the city. Gazing straight 
ahead from the walls of old Fort McHenry, one can 
see far down the river (very wide here) into the dis- 
tance where the river joins the Chesapeake Bay. In 
the blue of the horizon can be faintly discerned the 
low squatty outline of the little hexagon of stone built 
by General Robert E. Lee before the Civil War and 
known as Fort Carroll. 

To the right hand, from this vantage point on the 
water side of Fort McHenry's parapets, lies Spring 
Garden, the larger but the less busy part of Baltimore's 
water-front. To the left is the entrance to " the har- 
bor," as it is affectionately called by Baltimoreans, with 
entire disregard for that magnificent half -moon of water 
of more recent development which we have already 
descried to the right. 

The various points of historic interest in the fort 
and its grounds are marked with tablets and appro- 
priate memorials, this work having been done in recent 
years by the city, by the Maryland chapter of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution and by various 
public-spirited bodies of the municipality. 

As one enters the grounds of the old fort, he is 
confronted first by a long, low, wooden structure with 

181 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



an archway through which can be gained a ghmpse of 
a broad grass space. This is the parade. On the right 
of the parade is a row of cottages facing a narrow 
street, and at the end of this modest thoroughfare can 
be seen the eastern abutments of the old fort. As one 
approaches the fort itself the star shape of the walls 
is plainly observable and its dimensions easily taken in. 
It is not a large place, this historic old work, and makes 
no great impression upon the beholder from its ma- 
terial aspect. Batteries of ancient guns are mounted 
on the walls fronting the river. These were saved 
from destruction some years ago by the energetic work 
of some of the historical societies of the city. The 
reservation is entirely surrounded by a stone sea-wall 
which makes a very acceptable promenade, and here 
on summer days may be found couples viewing the 
beautiful marine prospects, and small boys indefatig- 
ably crabbing or fishing, but these energies have a purely 
legendary interest, for the crabbing and fishing for which 
the place was once famous are not now what they ought 
to be. 

Seen from the river as one enters Baltimore by 
steamer the old fort is at its best, for then one sees the 
long grassy inclines and the level of the parade ground 
and the soft foliage of trees contrasted sharply with 
the smoky city in the background. The fort proper 
is barely visible from the river, its walls not rising above 

182 



FORT McHENRY 



the crests of the high embankments thrown up in front 
of it. 

The point of land on which Fort McHenry is situ- 
ated — Whetstone Point, as it was known in old times 
— was patented in 1662 by Mr. Charles Gorsuch of 
the Society of Friends, and the stretch that he acquired 
amounted to about fifty acres. It is thus that it comes 
upon the pages of history in the possession of one 
sworn not to use methods of violence. Time passed 
on, Mr. Gorsuch's tract was divided, and at last came 
the brewing of the Revolution. It was this which 
brought Fort McHenry into existence. 

A battery was thrown up on the point, and in 1776 
a boom was stretched across the river to the Lazaretto, 
a little projection of land on the northern side of the 
stream. Two hundred and fifty negroes were employed 
in this work and their labors extended over a period of 
almost two years. 

Yet this original of Fort McHenry did not see 
active service during the Revolution. Its greatest days 
were to be reserved for that short conflict which finally 
decided the Mother Country in the opinion that the 
American Colonies were of a right and ought to be 
free and independent. That so decisive a battle as the 
repulse of the British fleet before McHenry should 
have been staged at Baltimore is peculiarly appropriate 
when we remember the prominence of that type of 
sailing vessel known as the Baltimore " clipper " in 

183 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the commerce of the country before the war and the 
great service these same shm, speedy vessels did as 
privateers during that conflict. The Baltimore clippers, 
it is not amiss to note, were built at Fell's Point, about 
a mile and a half across the river from Fort IVIcHenry, 
where modern Broadway, a thoroughfare, now has its 
terminus. 

It was before the outbreak of the War of 1812 that 
the foundations of present-day Fort McHenry were 
laid. In the closing ten years of the eighteenth century 
there was much ill feeling against England and war 
was declared in rumor many times before the actual 
outbreak of hostilities took place. At one of these 
periods of apprehension the citizens of Baltimore, at 
their own expense, started the erection of a star-shaped 
fort under the direction of John J. Rivardi, engineer. 
In 1794 this erection, not complete but well started 
toward completion, passed to the Federal government 
and was named Fort McHenry in honor of James 
McHenry, secretary to Washington dm-ing the Revo- 
lution and Secretary of War from 1796 to 1800. The 
works were completed in 1805 and the formal cession to 
the Federal government took place in 1816. 

It is hard to over-estimate in the history of the 
country the importance of the defence of Fort ]Mc- 
Henry and of the engagement at North Point, — 
a corollary of this defence, — though JNIarylanders them- 
selves have been comparatively indifferent to it until 

184 



FORT McHENRY 



lately. With that pride of race which is a heritage of 
the South and the feeling which that pride engenders 
that their men will do well as a matter of course, Mary- 
landers have given this engagement rather casual atten- 
tion until very recent years. Indeed, up to the last 
decade, it was not unusual to hear Baltimoreans refer to 
the heroic defenders of North Point, who checked a 
force many times more powerful than their own and 
inflicted terrible injury in mortally wounding the assail- 
ants' commanding officer, as the " North Point racers," 
in humorous appreciation of the nimbleness of foot and 
ingenuity in evading observation which the men showed 
when finally they did break ground and retreated to Bal- 
timore. Yet the times were critical enough. Heaven 
knows, and the part that these same racers and Fort 
McHenry played a worthy one in the final summing up. 
The British, it will be remembered, had proceeded 
by easy stages up the Chesapeake Bay, burning and 
pillaging wherever they chose and meeting little opposi- 
tion. A detachment had crossed to the northwest 
through Bladensburg and had seized and given to the 
flames Washington, the capital of the nation, itself; 
and now the united force was turning its attention to a 
leisurely march north through Baltimore to the northern 
cities, where they hoped to complete their subjugation 
of the country. Their complete reverse at McHenry 
set back all of their plans, giving the northern cities 
time to arm and prepare, and demoralized them to a 

185 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



great degree, their demoralization being accompanied 
by a corresponding enheartening of all American 
sympathizers. The importance of the action is thus 
readily seen. 

The historic attack upon Fort McHenry began on 
the morning of September 13, 1814, and continued until 
7 o'clock of the next morning. During the engagement 
more than 1800 shells were fired by the attacking force. 
The total American loss was four killed and twenty- 
four wounded. In the land engagement of North Point 
which preceded the attack by water on the city the 
American loss was 150 killed and woimded and the 
British loss about 600. 

While Fort McHenry was the main defence of 
Baltimore, the city showed arms in other directions as 
well. On the northern side of the harbor (across the 
river from Fort McHenry) were two long lines of 
fortifications which extended from Harris Creek, north- 
ward across Hampstead's Hill, now Patterson Park, — 
about a mile in length, along which at short distances 
were thrown up semicircular batteries. Behind these on 
more elevated sites were additional batteries, one of 
which, known as Rodger's Bastion, overlooked Fort 
McHenry. There were, also, connecting lines of breast- 
works and rifle-pits running parallel with the northern 
boundary of the city, connected in turn by inner bastions 
and batteries, the precise location of which is not known. 
A four-gun battery was constructed at Lazaretto Point, 

186 



FORT McHENRY 



and between this point and Fort McHenry across the 
mouth of the harbor a number of vessels were sunk. 
Southwest of the fort, guarding the middle branch of 
the Patapsco (known as Spring Garden) against the 
landing of troops to assail Fort McHenry in the rear, 
were two redoubts, 500 yards apart, called Fort Coving- 
ton and the City Battery. In the rear of these upon 
the high ground of the present Battery Square was a 
circular battery. A long line of platforms for guns 
was erected in front of Fort McHenry and was known 
as the Water Battery. 

During the night which followed the unsuccessful 
afternoon engagement of the 13th a landing party was 
sent in boats with muffled oars to slip past the City 
Battery and Fort Covington and to take these works 
and McHenry in the rear. That this effort was not 
more successful is due to the presence of a large hay- 
stack near one of the American sentries. This sentry, 
becoming suspicious, touched a match to the hay-stack, 
and the sudden flames showed the landing party of 
British. In the engagement that followed the British 
were repulsed. 

It was at dawn of the 14th that Francis Scott Key, 
who was a prisoner on the British flag-ship, received the 
inspiration to write " The Star Spangled Banner." He 
saw that, despite the furies of the night, the American 
flag still waved over the little fort. The words which 
he jotted down in the joy of that moment were the sub- 

187 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ject of some reworking on his part, but, it is understood, 
had not been materially changed when he showed them 
to his brother-in-law. Judge Nicholson, after his ex- 
change the next morning. The words were found to fit 
perfectly to the popular tune "Anacreon in Heaven." 
Carrying the stanzas to the printing office of Benjamin 
Edes, copies of it were ordered printed. This was the 
birth of " The Star Spangled Banner." 

The real hero of the attack upon Fort McHeniy 
is not, perhaps, given the acclaim that should be his. It 
was sturdy Colonel Armistead, commander of the fort. 
His intrepid spirit and fine ingenuity undoubtedly saved 
the day. 

Among the tributes which were rendered to Colonel 
Armistead after the engagement may be repeated that 
of his old friend, the veteran Colonel John Eager 
Howard, who sent him a brace of ducks and some wine 
with the words: 

The British are off and the Devil with them. You deserve 
the thanks of a grateful country. I am sending a brace of ducks 
and a bottle of Burgundy. I hope you may enjoy them. 

During the Civil War Baltimore was again fortified. 
On the night of May 13, 1861, Major-General Butler 
occupied Federal Hill, a commanding eminence over- 
looking the city and harbor. In the following month a 
strong fort was erected here by General Brewerton, 
which included the entire crown of the hill and mounted 

188 




COL. GEORGE ARMISTEAD 
In command of Fort McHenry during the siege 



FORT McHENRY 



fifty guns. The building of Federal Hill Fort was an 
answer to the action of a mob in Baltimore in April, 
1861, which planned to seize Fort McHenry. This 
effort was frustrated by the garrison of 100 men under 
Captain Robinson which put up such a war-Hke front 
with such a display of grape and canister, that the enter- 
prise was abandoned. 

In September, 1914, during the Star Spangled 
Banner Centennial, the fort and grounds were loaned 
to the City of Baltimore by the War Department for 
use as a public park. It is not to be expected that the 
old fort will ever again be called into active service. 



^ 



FORT MARION 

ST. AUGUSTINE— FLORIDA 




HE ancient city of St. Augustine, 
the oldest place of European 
settlement on the North Ameri- 
can continent, is on the east 
coast of Florida at the mouth of 
the St. Augustine River and at 
the northern end of a long 
lagoon formed by Anastatia Island, which separates the 
waters of the lagoon and of the Atlantic Ocean. Our 
interest in the quaint spot may be concentrated in Fort 
Marion, a Spanish bravo which has fought the city's 
battles for more than three hundred and fifty years. 
Probably the most picturesque of fortifications in the 
United States, Fort Marion annually receives thousands 
of visitors, many drawn from the leisured throng who 
have made St. Augustine the winter social capital of the 
American nation. 

Fort Marion is situated at the northern end of St. 
Augustine, where its lonely watch-tower may have a 
clear view of the shipping channel which leads from the 
city across the long bar Anastatia Island to the ocean. 
The fortification is a regular polygon of four equal sides 
and four bastions. A moat surrounds the structure, but 
the moat has been dry for many years. The entrance 
is to the south and is protected by a barbacan, or, less 
technically, an arrow-shaped out-work. A stationary 

190 



FORT MARION 



bridge leads part way across the moat and the path is 
then continued on into the fort by a draw-bridge. 

Over the entrance is an escutcheon bearing the arms 
of Spain with gorgeous coloring, which has been much 
dimmed by the hot sun of Florida. A legend now 
partially obliterated sets forth that "Don Ferdinand, 
the VI, being King of Spain and the Field Marshal 
Don Alonzo Fernando Hereda, being Governor and 
Captain General of this place, San Augustin of Florida, 
and its province, this fort was finished in the year 1756. 
The works were directed by the Captain Engineer Don 
Pedro de Brozas y Garay." 

Passing through the entrance to the fort one finds 
one's self in a dark passage, on the right and left of 
which are low doorways, that on the right being the 
nearer. Glancing through the right door-way one sees 
three dark chambers, the first of which was used as a 
bake-room and the two others of which were places of 
confinement for prisoners. Looking through the dark 
door-way a few steps forward to the left one gazes into 
the guard-room. 

Walking on one comes into the open court, 103 feet 
by 109 feet; immediately to the right is the foot of the 
inclined plane which leads to the upper walls. To the 
left is the well. On all sides of the court are entrances 
to casemates. Directly across from the entrance is the 
ancient chapel, which heard masses sung while the 
English colonies were just being started. The altar and 

191 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



niches still remain and over the door of this place of 
worship is a tablet set in the wall by French astron- 
omers, who here once observed the transit of Venus. 

Passing up the inclined plane to which allusion has 
already been made one finds one's self on the ramparts 
of the fort. A charming view is to be obtained on all 
sides, but particularly looking out to sea. At each angle 
of the fort was a sentry-box and that at the northeast 
corner was also a watch-tower. This tower, probably 
the most familiar remembrance of old Fort Marion, is 
twenty-five feet high. The distance from watch-tower 
to sentry-box (or from corner to comer) of the old fort 
is 317 feet. 

The material of which the fort is constructed is the 
familiar sea-shell concretion used so largely in Florida 
and known as "coquina." It was quarried on Anastatia 
Island, across Matanzas Inlet from the city, and was 
ferried over to the fort site in large barges. The sub- 
stance is softer when first dug than when it has been 
exposed to the air and light for a season, sharing this 
property with concrete, to which it is analogous in other 
ways, so the walls of the fort are more solid to-day than 
when they were built. 

The history of Fort JNIarion takes one back to early 
bickering between Spanish and French on the North 
American continent. In 1562 Jean Ribaut, a sturdy 
French mariner, sailed into the waters of Florida, ex- 
plored the waters of the St. John's River ( at the mouth 

192 



FORT MARION 



of which busy Jacksonville now stands) and planted a 
colony and a fort on the St. John's with the name of 
Fort Caroline. The river he called the River of May, 
in remembrance of the month in which he first set eyes 
upon it. In 1564, Laudonierre, a second Frenchman, 
came with supplies and reinforcements for Fort Caro- 
line, but paused on his passage to investigate an inlet 
farther south than the mouth of the St. John's River. 
This inlet he called the River of Dolphins, from the 
abundance of such creatures at play in the waters here 
and on the shores of the inlet, which later generations 
were to know as St. Augustine harbor; he descried an 
Indian village known as Seloy. 

The jealous King of Spain heard of the French set- 
tlement in Florida and was displeased. He sent an ex- 
pedition under Juaiit Menendez de Aviles to colonize the^f*J'/0 
country with Spaniards and to exterminate the French, 
who added to the misfortune of not being Spaniards 
the mistake of not being Catholics. Menendez sailed 
into Florida waters in September, 1565, reconnoitred 
the French colony on the St. John's River and then 
sailed south several days, landing at the Indian village 
of Seloy. Here he decided to establish the capital of 
his domain. The large bam-like dwelling of the Indian 
chief was made into a fort. This was the original of 
Fort Marion of to-day. Then on September 8, 1565, 
Menendez took formal possession of the territory, and 
named his fort San Juan de Pinos. 

13 193 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Of the Sixteenth Century quarrels of Frenchman 
and Spaniard, of Huguenot and CathoHc, there is not 
space in this chapter to tell. Suffice it to say that even 
in so broad a land as Florida, which according to the 
interpretation of the day included all of the present 
United States and British Canada, there was not room 
enough for two separated small French and Spanish 
colonies to subsist together, and for Catholic and Hugue- 
not to be in one world together was beyond all reason. 
So the next step in the history of our fort is the expedi- 
tion of Menendez against the French and the perpetra- 
tion by him of one of the most horrid massacres that has 
ever stained the New World. 

Let us picture a blinding night in September, 1565, 
at Fort Caroline. The Spanish leader, it is known, has 
established himself at the River Dolphins. One of the 
equinoctial tempests to which Florida is subject was 
raging. The French in their dismantled little post have 
deemed no enemy hardy enough to venture out in such 
elemental fury. Laudonierre himself has dismissed the 
weary sentinels from the wall, secure in the thought that 
Nature, herself, is his protection. He does not know 
the tenacity of the Spaniard. Menendez, setting out 
from his new stronghold with a few hundred men and 
struggling on against the storm, is even now within 
striking distance of the doomed French retreat. A sud- 
den rush upon the sleeping garrison and the Spaniards 
are within the fort. No mercy is shown. One hundred 

194 



FORT MARION 



and thirty men are killed with little resistance. One 
old carpenter escaped to the woods during the melee, 
but surrendered himself to the Spaniards the next morn- 
ing with pleas for mercy. He was butchered with his 
prayers upon his lips. 

Menendez returned to St. Augustine and in a few 
days heard that some of the French ships which had fled 
in disorder during the rout at the fort had landed their 
crews about twenty miles south of St. Augustine. He 
immediately set out for the spot with one hundred and 
fifty men. The hapless French without food and with- 
out shelter surrendered themselves to Menendez. All of 
them (over a hundred in number) with the exception 
of twelve Breton sailors, who had been kidnapped, and 
four ships' caulkers who might be useful to the 
Spaniards, were put to the knife in cold blood. Again, 
word came to Menendez that castaway Frenchmen were 
south of St. Augustine. It was the remainder of the 
French squadron under Ribaut — more than three hun- 
dred and fifty in number. Menendez repeated his tactics 
with this company as well. He allowed them to trust 
themselves to his mercy and then conclusively proved 
that there was no mercy in the heart of a Spaniard of 
the Inquisition by putting the whole company to death 
ten at a time. The spot where these two butcheries took 
place is known to this day as Matanzas, or the Place of 
the Slaughters. 

Immediately now the Spaniard began to make him- 

195 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



self more secure in Florida. His stronghold at St. 
Augustine was amplified and Fort Caroline, the luck- 
less French fort, was rebuilt and renamed San Mateo. 
In 1568 the French under de Gorgues descended upon 
the Spanish at San Mateo and put the whole garrison to 
the sword. San Augustin was not attacked, however, 
and for two hundred years held the Spanish flag 
supreme in this part of the New World. 

For twenty years after its foundation Menendez's 
little fort of San Juan de Finos saw no military service, 
though it was made strong and formidable. Then the 
clash of arms came to its ears, accompanied by great 
catastrophe. These were the years of the English sea- 
kings. Raleigh, Drake, Grenville, Gilbert, Frobisher 
were sweeping the oceans in their diminutive craft, mak- 
ing anxious the captains of many a Spanish galleon. 
In September, 1585, Drake sailed on a freebooting voy- 
age from the harbor of Plymouth, England, with more 
than an ordinarily large nimiber of men and ships, and 
in May, 1586, this little armada chanced to be in sight 
of San Augustin. The procedure may now be told in 
the words of one of Drake's seamen: 

Wee descried on the shore a place built Hkc a Beacon 
which was indeede a scaffold upon foure long mastes raised on 
ende. . . . Wee might discover over against us a Fort which 
newly had bene built by the Spaniards ; and some mile or ther- 
about above the Fort was a little Towne or Village without 
walls, built of wooden houses as the Plot doeth plainely shew. 

196 



FORT MARION 



Wee forthwith prepared to have ordnance for the batterie ; and 
one peece was a little before the enemie planted, and the first 
shot being made by the Lieutenant generall himself at their 
ensigne strake through the Ensigne, as wee afterwards under- 
stood by a Frenchman, which came unto us from them. One 
shot more was then made which strake the foote of the Fort 
wall which was all massive timber of great trees like Mastes. 

And so, in the charming, inconsequential fashion of 
the times, the narrative goes on, carrying the battle with 
it. The fort fell into the hands of the English after a 
stubborn defence by its Spanish occupants and was de- 
stroyed. The village was sacked and burned. Drake 
then sailed on his way. 

The fort was rebuilt and stood secure until 1665, 
when San Augustin was sacked by buccaneers under 
Captain John Davis and it shared the destruction of the 
town. Then a substantial structure, the Fort Marion of 
to-day, was begun. Work was continued for successive 
generations, until in 1756 the stronghold was declared 
finished. The new structure was christened San Marco. 

During these years the fort was not without service, 
however. In 1702 and again in 1740 San Augustin was 
attacked by English forces from the English colonies to 
the north, and Fort San Marco, even while not complete, 
bore the brunt of these attacks. The second expedition 
against San Augustin was under the leadership of Gov- 
ernor Oglethorpe, of Georgia, and arose to the dignity 
of a siege of the city. For weeks the English forces lay 

197 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



beyond the city walls and were then driven off by rein- 
forcements brought from Cuba. 

With the construction of Fort San Marco the erec- 
tion of city walls was undertaken, too. The walls of old 
San Augustin ran from Fort San Marco around the city 
and were constructed of "coquina." Only the so-called 
"City Gate" remains of these walls to-day. 

In 1763 the warrior which had withstood armed 
assault fell to the attack of diplomacy, for it was in this 
year that England made its trade with Spain whereby 
Spain was given back Cuba, which England had wrested 
by force of arms from that country, and England was 
given Florida. The flag of Castile and of Aragon was 
hauled down from the wall of the old fort and the British 
lion was raised in its place. Fort San Marco became in 
British hands Fort St. Mark. 

During the American revolution Florida was the 
only one of the fourteen British colonies which remained 
loyal to tlie Mother Country. The fervor of the northern 
coasts found no kindred spark in old St. Augustine. 
The town became a haven for Tories. She opened her 
gates and an oddly-assorted throng came flocking in. 
There was the Tory colonel Thomas Browne, of 
Georgia, tar and feathers still sticking to his skin from 
his experience with the Liberty Boys, of Savannah. 
There was Rory INIcIntosh, always attended by Scotch 
pipers, who paraded the narrow streets breathing out 
fire and slaughter against the colonies. The Scopholites, 

198 



FORT MARION 



so-called from Scophol, their leader, marched down, 600 
strong, from the back country of North Carolina, burn- 
ing and killing in their course through Georgia. With 
such additions, St. Augustine was not content with 
passive loyalty and became a centre for military opera- 
tions against the southern colonies. Many a council did 
the rooms of Fort St. Mark witness, which had as its 
result death and privation to the rebellious Americans. 

Two expeditions were attempted by the colonists 
against Fort St. Mark. The first under General 
Charles Lee fell short because of mismanagement. The 
second advanced as far as the St. John's River. Con- 
sternation in St. Augustine reigned supreme; slaves 
were impressed to help strengthen the fortifications ; citi- 
zens ran hither and thither with their valuables. But the 
Americans were menaced by fever at the St. John's and 
faced the prospect of a midsummer encampment in 
Florida, so they turned about and went north. Fort 
St. Mark was not to leave English hands by force. 

In 1783 took place another one of those shuffles 
between high contracting parties by which each party 
thinks that he has secured the better of the bargain. 
England traded Florida to Spain for Jamaica. Spain 
traded Jamaica to England for Florida. In 1821 Spain 
ceded Florida to the United States, and in 1825 the 
name of the fort was changed from Fort St. Mark to 
Fort Marion in honor of General Francis Marion, of 
Revolutionary fame. 

199 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The Seminole War began in 1835 and continued 
until 184.2, costing the United States two thousand hves, 
and forty million dollars. Fort Marion was the centre 
of the military operations of this conflict and it was the 
scene of the disgraceful episode of treachery by which 
Osceola and other Indian chieftains were captured. In 
1838 General Hernandez, in command of the United 
States forces, sent word to Osceola that he would be pro- 
tected if he should come to Fort JVIarion for talk of 
peace. With seventy of his followers the Indian came 
to the conference and was placed in irons. The prisoner 
was taken to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, where 
from much brooding and confinement he died. The same 
tactics were repeated in another sitting with Coacoochee, 
the remaining gi-eat leader of the Seminoles, and the 
Seminole War was ended. Coacoochee was confined in 
Fort Marion, where his cell is pointed out to visitors. 
His fate became that of an exile, for with his people he 
was transported to a western reservation. 

During the Civil War Fort Marion had a brief 
flurry of excitement when the fort was seized by 
Southern sympathizers in 1861. It quickly fell before 
Federal troops, however, and had no further active part 
in that war. 

The old fort is still government property, but its 
days of activity are long since past. That it will be main- 
tained for many years as a reminder of the past is, how- 
ever, well assured. 



fl> 



LA FUERZA, MORRO CASTLE, AND 
OTHER DEFENCES 

HAVANA— CUBA 




HE city of Havana was located 
where it stands to-day in 1519, 
after a four years' unsatisfactory 
trial of a site on the opposite, or 
south, coast of the island. It 
jogged along comfortably 
through all of the ordinary perils 
of that time until 1538, when it was attacked and sacked 
by a French privateersman. The authorities in the home 
country determined to provide some means of defence for 
the baby metropolis, and one Hernando de Soto, an 
impecunious adventurer who had followed Pizarro to 
Peru, and had returned enriched with plunder from that 
unhappy land, was commissioned governor of Cuba and 
Florida with instructions to build a fortress at Havana. 
De Soto came to Havana in the fashion of leisure of 
the times, and in pursuit of his royal master's instructions, 
laid the foundations of a fortress. This work was finished 
under the direction of his lieutenant while he, himself, 
was searching an El Dorado in Florida and was finding 
a miserable death by fever on the Mississippi. The 
structure which de Soto left as his legacy to Havana is 
the Castillo de la Fuerza, half hidden, to-day, between 
the Senate and old post-office building on the Plaza de 
Armes. La Fuerza has been credited with being the 

201 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



oldest inhabitable and inhabited structure in the Western 
Hemisphere and the claim is not easily disputed. As 
early as 1544 a royal decree had been given forth that all 
vessels entering Havana harbor should salute the little 
fortress with a ceremony not enjoyed by any other city in 
the New World save Santo Domingo. 

The form of la Fuerza is that of a quadrilateral, 
having a bastion at each of the four corners. The walls 
are twenty-five feet in height and are double. There is a 
moat which has not contained water for many years, and 
arrangements for a draw-bridge which has been replaced 
by a permanent plank walk. To the seaward is a watch- 
tower similar in design to that on the fort at St. Augus- 
tine, and in this tower is a bell which, tradition says, was 
rung wildly whenever in the old days a suspicious sail 
came into the view of the watchman. The little bronze 
image in the top of the tower is known as "La Habana." 
When de Soto sailed out from Havana harbor on that 
storied expedition through the American wilds which was 
to end in his death, he left la Fuerza, and with it his com- 
mand as governor, in charge of his bride, Isabel de 
Bobadilla. For four years Lady Isabel waited for her 
lord's return, spending anxious hours in the little watch- 
tower of the fort. Only when the tattered remnants of 
that splendid army which had accompanied the adven- 
turer were brought back to Havana was her long sus- 
pense ended. 

The cellars of la Fuerza contain damp dungeons 

202 



LA FUERZA 



used as receptacles for modern rifles and ammunition, 
this part of the old fort being given over to the purposes 
of an armory. 

In 1554 Havana was again attacked by the French 
and partially destroyed and in the following year it fell 
a victim to pirates. During the wars which marked the 
reigns of the Emperor Charles V, of Spain, and his son, 
Philip II, the colony became more and more the object 
of attack by Spain's enemies, and in 1585, Havana hav- 
ing been seriously menaced by Sir Francis Drake, it was / 
determined to build additional defences for the city. In 
1589 Morro Castle, the Castle of the Three Kings and 
the Bateria de la Punta were begun; by 1597 they were 
completed. 

The word " Morro " means promontory, and Castle 
del Morro is merely the fortress on the point. The design 
of Morro is that of the quaint Moorish fortress in the 
harbor of Lisbon, but it has been changed so much for 
modem defensive uses that it does not now greatly re- 
semble its original. The work is irregular in shape, is 
built on solid rock, and rises from 100 to 120 feet above 
the level of the sea. Its situation on the northern one of 
the two points of the entrance to the harbor of Havana 
gives it a great importance. Opposite Morro, across the 
harbor mouth, is la Punta. 

To visit Morro one climbs to the fort by an inclined 
road cut out of rock, shaded with laurels and royal poin- 
cianas. Hedges of cactus hem in the road. The pilgrim 

203 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



reaches at last the moat. This was cut out of solid rock 
and is seventy feet in depth. Passing over the draw- 
bridge and advancing through the dark walls of the 
work, one comes to the inner court, from whence there is 
a passage to the ramparts. Here is a fine outlook over 
city and harbor, from the seaward side of the ramparts, 
where there is a battery of twelve guns known as the 
" Twelve Apostles." 

Some of the prison cells in Morro are directly over 
the water and in one spot a steep chute leads to the sea. 
Your guide will tell you that from here bodies of pris- 
oners, both living and dead, were shot out to become the 
food of innumerable sharks waiting below. 

The most active service that Morro has seen was in 
1762, when Havana was taken by the English under Ad- 
miral Pocock and Lord Albemarle. In June of that year, 
shortly after the outbreak of war between France and 
Spain as allies against England, a fleet of 44 English 
men-of-war and 150 lighter vessels, bearing a land force 
of 15,000 men, appeared off Havana. The Spanish de- 
fenders numbered 27,000 men, of whom a sufficient garri- 
son was at Morro. The English landed on the coast to 
the east of our fortress and worked around to the rear of 
that structure to an eminence where the fortification of 
Cabanas now stands. The siege began on June 3 and 
continued until July 30, when, after a stubborn defence, 
Morro fell. 

The long resistance of the point against an over- 

204 



LA FUERZA 



whelming force is largely to be credited to the indomi- 
table spirit of its commander, Velasco, who, though he 
knew that his position had been undermined and his men 
were deserting him, refused to surrender. The fort was 
taken after the mines had been sprung and the walls had 
been battered down. Captain Velasco died of wounds 
received during the siege, and on the day of his funeral 
hostilities were suspended by the English in recognition 
of his bravery. 

The authorities in Spain decreed that a ship in the 
Spanish navy should always bear the name of Velasco, 
and the vessel so named at the time of the Spanish- Ameri- 
can war was sunk in Manila Bay by the Boston. 

Havana fell thirteen days after Morro and for a year 
was in the hands of the enemy. 

Stretching along bare hilltop back of Morro is Ha- 
vana's greatest fortress, built in 1763 after the departure 
of the unwelcome English guests whose coming had 
shown the weakness of the city's defences. Cabanas, or 
to give its full name, Castillo de San Carlos de Cabanas 
(Saint Charles of the Cabin), is nearly a mile in length 
with a width of about one-fifth of a mile. Its cost was 
$14,000,000. When King Charles III of Spain, under 
whose direction the work was commenced, was told the 
total of expenditures, it is said that he walked to the 
window of his study and gazed intently out of it, 
remarking that such an enormous and expensive con- 
struction should be visible from Spain. 

205 




QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Within the fort are innumerable walks, dungeons and 
secret passages. To the right of the entrance is the 
famous " Laurel Moat " where unfortunate Cubans and 
other political prisoners were shot without benefit of 
trial. The condemned men were compelled to kneel 
facing a wall, and this wall marked with bullets in a line 
nearly one hundred feet long is a grim present-day 
memento of Spain's ruthless rule in the island. The spot 
has been marked with a bronze tablet which records its 
history. 

Other fortifications in Havana include Principe 
Castle, built in 1774, and Atares Castle, 1767. There 
are two ancient little round towers of defence at Chor- 
rera and Cojimar. 



. 0^ 



FORT SAN CARLOS 

PENSACOLA BAY— FLORIDA 




ENSACOLA Bay is a lozenge- 
shaped body of water, the entrance 
to which from the Gulf is at the 
southern point of the figure, and 
the southern side is formed by 
Santa Rosa Island, which stretches 
^^^out in a long sandy line here to 
divide sea and inland water. On the western shore, 
near the head of the bay, is situated the busy city of 
Pensacola, one of the most active shipping points on 
the Gulf and also one of the most ancient. About six 
miles south of Pensacola, and near the mouth of the bay, 
is the city's ancient defence. Fort San Carlos de Bar- 
rancas, which has gone through ten generations and 
more of life as humans reckon it and has done valiant 
service under four flags. 

The military (and social) history of Pensacola Bay 
commences in 1558, when Philip II, of Spain, commis- 
sioned Luis de Valesca, viceroy of New Spain, to under- 
take the settlement of Florida. After a preliminary sur- 
vey Valesca, in the summer of 1559, sent 1500 soldiers 
and settlers to make a beginning at Pensacola Bay, this 
body of water having been adjudged the best roadstead 
and the most favorable for the support of human life on 
the Gulf Coast. A tentative settlement was established, 
but for some reason the site did not please the expedition 

207 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



and its leaders attempted unsuccessfully to find a better 
one. The winter that followed and the next summer 
were filled with privation and the colony became much 
reduced in numbers. Dm'ing the second sunmier most 
of the settlers went with Angel de Villafane to Santa 
Elena, Port Royal Sound, south on the Atlantic coast 
(South Carolina, to-day) and the remainder was recalled 
by Philip II, who thereupon decreed that no further 
effort should be made to settle the west coast of Florida, 
a royal promulgation which circumstance and lack of in- 
centive to the contrary conspired to make effective for 
more than a century. If one accepts this abortive ex- 
pedition as the beginning of settlement in Florida then 
Pensacola is the oldest point of European residence in 
the United States, antedating St. Augustine by seven 
years. 

The Spaniards did not regard La Salle's effort at 
colonization at the mouth of the Mississippi River with 
favor and were not at all displeased at his misfortunes. 
To forestall other efforts of the French they undertook 
a survey of the coast and established a colony at Pensa- 
cola in the last years of the Seventeenth Century. This 
was the beginning of Pensacola of to-day. 

When Iberville, in 1699, sailed from France with 
several vessels containing colonists for Louisiana and 
when in due course of time he arrived off Pensacola, he 
found the Spaniards firmly established with a fort with 
four bastions and some ships of war. The Frenchmen 

208 



FORT SAN CARLOS 



asked for permission to disembark his forces. His re- 
quest was refused and he then sailed along the coast 
until he found a landing to his liking near the present- 
day Biloxi, Mississippi. The governor of Pensacola at 
this time — and the first governor of the colony — was 
Don Andre D'Arriola. The fort was named San 
Carlos de Barrancas. 

There came in 1719 a war against Spain in which 
France and England were allies opposed to her. The 
French thereupon sent in this year M. de Serigny with 
a sufficient force to take possession of Pensacola which 
was valuable to the French on account of its proximity 
to Louisiana and its accessibility to the West India 
Islands. The expedition was entirely successful as, 
after an attack by land by 700 Canadians, the com- 
mander of the Spanish garrison, Don John Peter Mata- 
moras, surrendered with the honors of war. 

It is probable that the Spanish stronghold at that 
time was not the one which has come down to us to-day, 
though it bore the same name and was, very possibly, 
built on the same site. 

The news of the surrender of Pensacola caused a 
great stir in Spain, and an expedition was fitted out to 
recover the lost territory. The command of the expedi- 
tion was given to Don Alphonse Carracosa and the 
force consisted of 12 vessels and 850 fighting men. Don 
Carracosa achieved success, as at the sight of his fleet 
part of the French garrison deserted and the rest sur- 

14 209 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



rendered, to be treated with great severity by the 
Spanish. Don Matamoras was re-established and an 
expedition was despatched against the French at Mobile 
without result satisfactory to the Spanish. 

The French were to have their day, again, however. 
De Bienville invested Pensacola by land and Count de 
Champmelin by sea. After a stubborn resistance Mata- 
moras surrendered, giving the French between twelve 
hundred and fifteen hundred prisoners. The French 
dismembered the greater part of the fort and left a small 
garrison in the remainder of the structure. 

Under the peace of 1720 Pensacola was restored to 
the Spanish and thus was ended the port's first experi- 
ence of warfare. Fort San Carlos was rebuilt substan- 
tially in the form that it bears to-day, and in 1722 an- 
other fortification was built on the point of Santa Rosa 
Island where Fort Pickens long years afterward was to 
maintain a gallant defence. 

Fort San Carlos is a little semicircular structure 
most solidly put together but not of great pretension as 
to size. On account of its fine location, however — having 
no heights near which could dominate it, and having a 
fine sweep over the entrance to the bay which it is de- 
signed to protect — it was of importance in the days of 
short-range cannon. 

In 1763 the whole of Florida, which, of course, in- 
cluded our brave little fort at Pensacola, passed into the 
hands of the English by treaty with Spain, and an 

210 



FORT SAN CARLOS 



English garrison took possession of Fort San Carlos. 
Upon the outbreak of hostilities again between Spain 
and England, Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisi- 
ana, sailed from New Orleans in February, 1781, with 
1400 men and a sufficient fleet to reduce Pensacola. He 
was joined by squadrons from Havana and Mobile and 
in May of that year entered Pensacola Bay. The fort 
here was in the command of Colonel Campbell with a 
small garrison of English. After a sufficient resistance 
Colonel Campbell surrendered and Galvez took charge. 
In 1783 the whole province of Florida was ceded to 
Spain, and Pensacola remained under a Spanish ruler 
for thirty-one years after this latter date. 

The next eventful interval in the life of Fort San 
Carlos had to do with one of the most popular figures of 
United States history, Andrew Jackson. In 1814, dur- 
ing the progress of the second war of the United States 
with England, Jackson was made a major-general and 
was given command of the Gulf Coast region where he 
had been operating against the Creek Indians. While 
arranging a treaty with these conquered savages he was 
informed by them that they had been approached by 
English officers, through the connivance of the Spanish 
commander at Pensacola, with offers of supplies and 
assistance to fight against the Americans. Two British 
vessels arrived at Pensacola August 4 and Colonel 
Edward Nicholls in command was allowed to land troops 
and to arm some Indians. Late in August seven more 

211 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



British vessels arrived at Pensacola and the mask of 
Spanish neutrahty was thrown aside when Fort San 
Carlos was turned over to the British, the British being 
allowed to hoist their ensign thereon, and Colonel 
Nicholls was entertained by the Spanish governor as 
his guest. 

Jackson was at Mobile, Alabama, not very far dis- 
tant as the crow flies from Pensacola, and when the in- 
telligence of these happenings had been confirmed im- 
mediately set about raising a force of Americans. By 
November he had 2,000 volunteers and early in that 
month marched from Fort Montgomery (Montgomery, 
Alabama) upon Pensacola. November 6 he was two 
miles from that city. To ascertain the Spaniard's in- 
tentions he sent INIajor Pierre to wait upon the com- 
mandant of the city and was rewarded for his pains by 
having his envoy fired upon. By midnight Jackson had 
his men in motion against the city, and in the hot en- 
gagement which followed the Spanish and British were 
badly worsted. The British fled down the Bay in their 
ships, blowing up Fort San Carlos in their retreat and 
carrying away one of the higher Spanish officers — cer- 
tainly, on the whole, a not very grateful return for the 
benefits bestowed upon them by their hosts. 

The Creek and Seminole Indians who had begun to 
rally to the English standard were much impressed by 
this display of force on the part of the Americans and 

212 



FORT SAN CARLOS 



esteeming Jackson a very bad medicine, indeed, wisely 
decided to return to the prosaic paths of peace. 

During the Civil War, Fort San Carlos played no 
conspicuous part. The limelight of fame was thrown on 
its close neighbor. Fort Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island. 
This latter post at the outbreak of the war was in charge 
of Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, a Pennsylvanian, who, 
seeing the conflict impending, concentrated (in Fort 
Pickens as being the easiest one of them all to defend) 
the forces in the various forts under his jurisdiction. 
From January 9 to April 11, 1861, Slemmer was in a 
state of siege in Fort Pickens and on the latter date 
was relieved by forces from the North. The point was 
held by Federal troops throughout the war. 

A curious incident which occurred early in 1914 at 
Fort San Carlos recalled vividly to the officers there the 
part the little Spanish post played in the days when 
pirates roamed the Spanish Main and all of this part of 
the world was new./ A stranger came to the fort with an 
old parchment which he declared showed the location of 
buried treasure in the old fort. He would not tell how 
he came by the document, but its evident antiquity 
aroused interest and for an idle hour's interest the 
officers of the post decided to dig for the buried treasure. 
On the parchment was a well drawn plan of the fort 
with a cross in a particular corner of the parade. This 
point was located with some little difficulty and men 
were set to digging. For a time nothing interesting 

213 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



occurred, but after a while one of the men struck a 
rotten wooden board which proved to be the top of an 
old well. At the bottom of this covered-over well was 
discovered a lot of watery mud which, when it had been 
dug into, revealed the top of an old chest. Darkness 
fell now and it was not considered worth while to con- 
tinue operations until the next day. The next morning 
when the men went back to work they found that the 
stirring up of the earth and water had caused the ob- 
ject, whatever it was, to sink so deep into the unstable 
soil of the spot that it could not be recovered ! 



THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO 

GOLDEN GATE— CALIFORNIA 




9 AND in hand with the Military 
went the Church during Spain's 
days of dominion in the New 
World. Where the soldier walked, 
there too, came the priest. At first 
when all of the New World was 
new, when the hold of the Old 
World was insecure, it was the soldier who pointed the 
path, but when Spain's hand had a firm grasp upon her 
possessions it was the priest who took the lead. The 
records of Spain on the east coast of America are rec- 
ords of bloodiness and cruel oppression. On the west 
coast where the friar led the way we find deeds of gen- 
tleness and love. Where Florida reveals a memory of 
hate in two old bastioned fortresses — Marion and San 
Carlos — with dingy dungeons and rusty chains, Cali- 
fornia shows its missions with their silvery chimes and 
its presidios, the two institutions being bound together. 
Four presidios were established by Spain in old CaH- 
fornia to guard its missions ; the first, at San Diego ; the 
second, at Monterey; the third, at San Francisco; and 
the fourth, at Santa Barbara. It is the third which be- 
speaks our interest in this chapter, owing to its impor- 
tance in the present day as well as to its historic and 
natural charm. 

The presidio at San Francisco was established in 

215 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



1776 by an expedition which set out in two parts in June 
of that year from Monterey ; one part to go by land, the 
other by water. The objective point of the two was a 
bay which had been discovered in 1769 by an expedition 
from San Diego. It was named in honor of Saint 
Francis of Assisi, hence, San Francisco. The land 
expedition included Friars Palou and Cambon, a few 
married settlers with large families, and seventeen dra- 
goons under the command of Don Jose Moraga, who 
was to be the commandant of the new post. It carried 
garden seed, agricultural implements, horses, mules 
and sheep. This party reached the neighborhood of the 
Golden Gate on June 27 and, without waiting for the 
detachment which was coming by sea, chose a site for 
the presidio and began work upon the modest buildings 
of that station. The seed was placed in the ground, the 
cattle and sheep put out to graze and the horses and 
mules set to labor. All was activity. 

The first part of September saw the buildings of the 
post substantially complete and pn September 17, the 
feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis, solemn posses- 
sion of the Presidio, in the name of the King of Spain, 
was taken by the grizzled soldier INIoraga, while a mass 
was celebrated by Palou. A Te Deum was sung, a cross 
was planted and salutes were fired over land and water. 
Thus was the presidio of San Francisco founded. 

It is a far cry from 1776 to the present day (though 
not so long as from 1776 back to the first day of Spanish 

216 



THE PRESIDIO 



settlement in the future United States ) , but, while the 
immediate aspect of the country round about Spain's 
presidio of 1776 at San Francisco has changed, the situ- 
ation of the post has remained the same ; and the view of 
land and water here is just as entrancing to-day as it 
was on that day in 1769 when the expedition from San 
Diego saw the far-famed Golden Gate. 

The Presidio of San Francisco, the most important 
military station of the Pacific coast, is situated on the 
northwest rim of the city, north of Golden Gate Park 
(and north of the exposition grounds of 1915) and con- 
nected with that park by a beautiful boulevard one mile 
long. The grounds comprise more than fifteen hundred 
acres, developed for military purposes in the most 
modern fashion. From almost any part of the grounds 
or the approach thereto enchanting views of the won- 
derful bay of San Francisco are to be obtained. 

A description of the view of the presidio as you 
approach the place on the boulevard from Golden Gate 
Park has been given by Ernest Peixotto in his 
"Romantic California," which may well be repeated 
here : 

In the meantime the city boasts one splendid driveway that, 
with a connecting link completed, will rank with the famous 
roadways of the Old World. 

Only a decade or two ago the Presidio (it still bears its 
Spanish appellation) was an isolated military post separated 
from the city by several miles of barren, sandy thoroughfares. 

217 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Now some of the handsomest homes crown the hill tops about it, 
and owe their chief attraction to the glorious views of bay 
and shore that they command. To start some fine afternoon 
toward sunset from one of these homes and take a drive around 
the cliffs is an experience not soon to be forgotten. 

A few blocks run brings you to a stone gateway, its posts 
topped with eagles ; you turn sharply to the right through a 
grove of eucalypti, swing round a curve and then you stop the 
motor. From the red Macadam roadway upon which you stand, 
the hills fall gently in a broad amphitheatre to the barracks and 
parade grounds laid out symmetrically along the shore, and 
teeming with soldier life. Beyond, the waters of the bay mirror 
the azure of the sky — a blue, tinged with green, like those half- 
dead turquoises that they sell in the marts of Tunis. The 
North Beach hills, thick-studded with the modest homes of the 
city^s alien population, gleam white against the Contra Costa 
Mountains — verdant in winter, tawny and dry in summer — with 
the lumpy silhouette of the Monte Diablo, the Devil's Mountain, 
poking over the shoulder as if it, too, wished a peep at so fair a 
prospect. 

Across the stretch of intervening water, stern-wheeled river 
steamers ply northward to San Pablo Bay ; on through the 
Carquinez Straits and up the Sacramento River, their silhouettes 
varied once in a while by some grim battle-ship or cruiser steam- 
ing to the Navy Yard at Mare Island, headquarters, home and 
hospital for all our ships in the Pacific. Anchored in the middle 
of the bay, Alcatraz lies terraced with batteries, low, forbidding, 
while to the north rise the hills of Marin County bathed in 
purple shadows and clustered around the base of Tamalpais. 
The whole scene is suffused with the rosy flush of the westering 

218 



THE PRESIDIO 



sun that gilds the islands, warms the greens of the eastern sky, 
and blushes the hills with its ardent glances. 

One turns from the picture with regret, only to follow on 
to new vistas. You wind through groves of evergreens and 
eucalypti out into the open meadows, a riot of flowers in spring- 
time, that top the cliffs above the Golden Gate. The famous 
straits lie just below. Fort's Point antiquated bastions on their 
hither shore fronting the white-washed walls of the harbor-light 
on the Point Bonita bluffs opposite. 

To take up the thread of our historical narrative, the 
presidio remained a possession of Spain's until 1824 
when Mexico finally became free from its mother 
country and the flag of Mexico took the place of the 
banner of Castile and Aragon at the Golden Gate. 

In 1846 the American flag was raised in all of the 
presidios of California, an interesting chapter of 
national expansion far too large for abridgment here. 
In 1849 commenced the era of San Francisco's pros- 
perity and presidio's importance with the discovery of 
gold in California and the onset of the hordes of gold- 
seekers who came through the Golden Gate. 

The presidio was visited by Richard H. Dana in 
1859 and is described by him: 

I took a California horse of old style and visited the Pres- 
idio. The walls stand as they did, with some changes made to 
accommodate a small garrison of United States troops. It has 
a noble situation and I saw from it a clipper ship of the very 
largest class coming through the Gate under her fore and aft 

219 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



sails. Thence I rode to the fort, now nearly finished, on the 
southern shore of the Gate, and made an inspection of it. It is 
very expensive and of the latest stj'le. One of the engineers 
is Custis Lee, who has just left West Point at the head of his 
class, a son of Colonel Robert E. Lee who distinguished himself 
in the Mexican war. 

The fort with the "expensive equipment" to which 
he refers is Fort Winfield Scott, which was seven years 
building and cost $2,000,000. It is now out of date, but 
is a picturesque feature of the harbor and is of service 
to the presidio authorities of the present in various 
minor capacities. 

Opposite Fort Winfield Scott, across the Golden 
Gate, which is here at its narrowest width of one mile, 
can be seen the white buildings of Fort Baker. Other 
defences of San Francisco, visible from the presidio, in- 
clude Fort Miley, on Point Bonita; Point Lobos, and 
Alcatraz Island, a picturesque body of land whose 
Spanish name memoralizes the pelicans which once made 
the place their home. 

During the Spanish- American War the presidio was 
a scene of activity as the point of departure of our sol- 
diers for the Philippines. The national cemetery for the 
burial of soldiers who have died on duty in the Philip- 
pines is situated here, too, and each returning transport 
brings back its sad burden, far lighter now than in the 
days when the islands were first feeling the weight of 
American rule. 

220 



THE PRESIDIO 



Connected with the history of the presidio is a pretty- 
story which Bret Harte has woven into a famihar one 
of his poems. It concerns the pathetic love of Dona 
Concepcion Arguello, daughter of the Spanish Com- 
mandant Don Luis Arguello, for Rezanov, chamberlain 
of the Russian emperor, who came, during the days of 
Spain's possession of this land, to negotiate for Russian 
settlements in California. Rezanov won the heart of his 
host's daughter and sailed away to gain the consent of his 
emperor to marriage with her. Years passed and no 
word came from Rezanov. At length Sir George Simp- 
son, the Englishman, in his trip around the world, 
brought word that Rezanov had been killed by a fall 
from his horse while crossing Siberia on his homeward 
journey. Dona Concepcion, who had faithfully waited 
his return, became a nun and when she died was buried 
near the old Mission church in the Presidio grounds. 






FORT ADAMS AND NEWPORT'S 
DEFENSIVE RUINS 

NEWPORT— RHODE ISLAND 




HERE is an odd little cluster of 
islands on the eastern side of the 
entrance to Narragansett Bay. 
The most important of these is 
Aquidneck and on the southern 
extremity of Aquidneck Isle is 
situated Newport. At the south- 
ern extremity of Newport is Brenton's Point and on 
Brenton's Point is Fort Adams. This is the proper way 
to build up a climax! 

Picture to yourself a sunny Fourth of July in 1799; 
this is the day on which Fort Adams is to be dedicated 
with imposing ceremonies. From out of the little many- 
spired city across the sparkling blue waters of Newport 
Bay winds a little procession around the shore road 
which leads to the fort. First of all, comes the company 
of soldiers which is to garrison the post. It is Captain 
John Henry's company of artillery. After this comes 
the major-general of the State militia with his staff in 
gorgeous gold braid. Following him is the famous 
Newport Artillery Company with two brass field pieces 
making a brave show. Then there are the Newport 
Guards with two brass field pieces. Finally there is a 
company of citizens. 

They are all assembled at the fort. Major Tousard, 

222 



m 



I 



FORT ADAMS 



of the corps of engineers of the army of the infant re- 
pubhc, is speaking: He says: " Citizens: Happy to 
improve every occasion to testify my veneration for that 
highly distinguished citizen who presides over the gov- 
ernment of the United States, I have solicited the Secre- 
tary of War to name this fortress, Fort Adams. He 
has gratified my desire. I hope that the brave officers 
and soldiers who are and shall be honored with its de- 
fence will by valor and good conduct render it worthy 
of its name, which I hereby proclaim Fort Adams." A 
salute was fired from the four brass field pieces and the 
great cannon of the new fort. In the distance Fort 
Wolcott on Goat Island fired guns and the standard 
of the young United States was unfurled at the head of 
the flag-staff. Thus was christened one of the most 
important of American coast defences. 

For twenty-five years thereafter Fort Adams was 
maintained with a small garrison supplied from Fort 
Wolcott, under whose jurisdiction it was. In 1824 the 
present Fort Adams was commenced, a star-shaped 
fortress of grey granite, with outworks, upon an initial 
appropriation by the Federal government of $50,000. 
It was finished, under successive appropriations, in 
1841. The garrison was withdrawn from 1853 to 1857 
and between the years 1859 and 1862, since when it has 
been continuously occupied. The present area of Fort 
Adams reservation is about 200 acres, and it contains 
modern works which need no description. 

223 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



If one should go back in point of Time beyond the 
gay little ceremony which marked the beginning of Fort 
Adams, he would find that Brenton's Point had been a 
site for martial works before this. Its strategic pos- 
sibilities for defence were early recognized in the Revo- 
lution, as, in the spring of 1776, a light breast-work was 
thrown up here by the Americans behind which they 
mounted several guns. In April, 1776, the Glasgow, a 
British war vessel of twenty-nine guns, came into New- 
port Harbor and anchored near Goat Island. On the 
following morning such a heavy fire was brought to bear 
upon the ship from Brenton's Point that it cut its cable 
and made out to sea. A few days after this the Scar- 
borough and the Scymetar of His Majesty's service 
were, likewise, badly battered by fire from these earth- 
works. 

Late in the simimer of 1776 the British obtained 
possession of Aquidneck Island. They made their head- 
quarters at Newport, and erected a temporary barracks 
on Brenton's Point where the American battery had 
been. For three years they held possession of Rhode 
Island and then were removed by orders from their 
commander-in-chief, embarking October 25, 1779. 

The next visitors to Newport were the French. The 
French fleet, under the command of Admiral de Ternay, 
appeared in Newport Harbor August 10, 1780. Gen- 
eral Rochambeau and his army shortly put ashore. 
General Heath, in command of the American forces in 

224 







% 



Parade, Old Fort Adams 




Present-Day Aspect of Fort Greene 
GLIMPSES OF NEWPORT'S HISTORIC DEFENCES 



FORT ADAMS 



Rhode Island, was at the wharf to welcome Rocham- 
beau. There were speeches and the American officers 
wore cockades of black and white as a courtesy to the 
allies, the cockade of the formal American uniform being 
black and that of the French, white. It was not long 
before the French had been made to feel at home and 
had settled down to a long stay. 

General Rochambeau's defences consisted of a line 
of earthworks completely enclosing Newport on the 
north, cutting off access to it by land from any other 
part of the island. Traces of this line can still be dis- 
cerned by the inquiring visitor to Newport. Strong 
temporary fortifications were thrown up at Brenton's 
Point on the future site of our Fort Adams, and on all 
of the islands of the harbor were placed guns. The 
northern water-front of the city was held by a strong 
redoubt, built by Rochambeau and known as Fort 
Greene. This was at the site of the present Fort Greene 
Park, at the head of Washington Street. 

Rochambeau was the second visitor to these shores 
with a French army. The first allies had not made a 
pleasant impression with the Americans, it must be ad- 
mitted, chiefly because of their leader's, D'Estaing's, 
apparent unwillingness to come to grips with the enemy 
except where such action might directly benefit his own 
country. Doubtless he acted on orders from Versailles I 
But General Rochambeau seemed to be under different 
instructions, for he immediately placed himself under 

15 225 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the authority of the American leaders and ingratiated 
himself with the people. His stay at Newport is a 
brilliant chapter in the social history of that city. 

One of the pleasantest episodes of the French occu- 
pation of Newport was the visit of Washington to his 
French associate in arms. Rochambeau had chosen as 
his residence and headquarters the comfortable and 
beautiful dwelling at the corner of Clarke and Mary 
Streets known as the Vernon House. In March, 1781, 
Washington, accompanied by his young aide-de-camp, 
Lafayette, came to Newport and was received here with 
much formality. The interest with which the French 
officers regarded their guest is evidenced in some of the 
journals which they published at the close of the war 
on their return to their own country. Amongst minor 
incidents, Washington led a dance with the beautiful 
Miss Champlin, and French officers, taking the instru- 
ments from the musicians' hands, played a minuet, " A 
Successful Campaign." 

A merry time this French occupation of Newport 
brought about, and traditions of the gayeties and por- 
tentous politenesses of the period are still retailed in 
the little city. A finer body of men than the French 
army had probably never taken the field. Many had 
been through the Seven Years War. Officers of the 
most cultured circles of the Old World embraced a 
chance of campaigning in the New World with the 
pleasure of school-boys in a new experience. 

226 



FORT ADAMS 



One of the officers of the French force was the Vis- 
count de Noailles, in whose regiment Napoleon was 
afterward a subaltern. Another was Biron, a figure in 
the French Revolution, and who in 1793, having un- 
successfully commanded the republican armies in La 
Vendee, was guillotined. There was the Marquis de 
Chastellux, — an elegant, — whose petits soupers became 
the talk of every one fortunate enough to be invited. 
Later Chastellux's " Travels in America " were to be- 
come a treasured gallery of pictures of the nation when 
it was new. There were Talleyrand, Chabannes, 
Champcenetz, de Melfort, la Touche, de Barras, de 
Broglie, Vauban, and Berthier, the military confidant 
of Napoleon, and many others. With such an infusion 
of genius and culture it is not remarkable that the little 
city developed an exotic bloom and that the records of 
this period in Newport are among the gayest in Amer- 
ican social history. Nor should one be surprised that 
the anxious mothers of young daughters of Newport 
in that time (as we learn now from the betraying evi- 
dences of long preserved letters) passed vigilant hours 
of watchfulness in the sudden maelstrom of French 
gallantry! 

The Chevalier de Ternay, commander at sea of the 
French forces, died soon after the arrival at Newport 
and was buried in Trinity church-yard where a slab was 
erected to his memory. 

In 1781 the French marched out of Newport, joined 

227 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Washington in his campaign at Yorktown, and the 
result soon was the surrender of Cornwallis and the 
virtual end of the War of Independence. 

In May, 1794, Governor Fenner addressed the fol- 
lowing letter to George Champlin, of Newport : 

Last evening I received a letter from Mr. Rochefontaine the 
engineer dated New London . . . informing me that he should 
depart from New London for Newport this day and desiring me 
to transmit to him my orders and the names of the gentlemen 
appointed by me to be the agents for the fortifications and to 
supervise their execution. I have to ask the favor of you to 
undertake the business with Col. Sherburne until my arrival at 
Newport, and to wait on the engineer and deliver him my letter 
of appointment. Give him the necessary information and as- 
sistance. Your compliance will render great service to the 
State and in a particular manner oblige your ob't servant, 

A. Fenner. 

The building of the new fort was assigned to Major 
Louis Toussard, and soon it was ready for its dedica- 
tion. At the time of this ceremony the battery was 
completed and was mounted with 32-pounders on sea- 
coast carriages. 

Strangely enough it was as a protection from the 
very allies with whom the United States had triumphed 
against Great Britain that Fort Adams was called into 
being. It will be recalled by the reader of history that 
at this period France under the Directory was in con- 
stant embroilment with the United States. Citizen 

228 



FORT ADAMS 



Talleyrand was bent upon turning the new nation to 
France's ends. In 1798 a French cruiser actually had 
the impudence, after the capture of several American 
vessels, to bring her prizes into an American port to 
escape the more dreaded British. President Adams, as 
all know, eventually brought the Directoire Executif 
and Citizen Talleyrand to their senses in no uncertain 
fashion, but for a time affairs between the two countries 
were in a very unsatisfactory condition. 

To President Adams is due, too, the foundation of 
the present American navy and the increasing impor- 
tance of Fort Adams. He saw the necessity in the 
future for a great naval base well located on the coast. 
A commissioner sent out by him reported that the harbor 
of Newport most fully answered the specifications he 
had in mind, and from this time the works on Brenton's 
Point acquired a new value. 

The greater part of the construction of the second 
Fort Adams, which was begun in 1824, was done under 
the personal supervision of General J. G. Totten of the 
United States army in coast defence. It is said that 
during the progress of the work a full set of plans of 
the fortress mysteriously disappeared and as mysteri- 
ously reappeared after a long interval. Gossip also 
gratuitously asserts that a copy of these plans could be 
found in the Admiralty office of Great Britain. How- 
ever that may be, the plans would be of little value to 
any one to-day. 

229 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Associated with Totten was that General Bernard 
of the first Napoleon's staff who was raised from the 
ranks by the Corsican for his skill as a military engineer. 
Bernard came to the United States in 1816 and offered 
his services to the infant republic. While his gifts 
have been generally conceded, his personality must have 
been far from winning. Colonel McCree, chief of en- 
gineers, resigned rather than serve with him, and har- 
mony between the Frenchman and Colonel Totten was 
only secured by an agreement through which work was 
divided and each man was bound to accept the other's 
plans. 

There are passages beneath the walls of Fort Adams 
known only to the engineers. These are always closed, 
for they are of no use in piping times of peace and 
might become a trap for curious, unwary visitors. A 
story is told of an exploring party years ago, before 
the entrances were barred. This party penetrated far 
beneath the fort. Suddenly their lantern went out and a 
scream and a splash from the front showed that one 
of the party was in distress. A beautiful girl had 
stepped over the edge of a subterranean reservoir. 
What could be done! There was a rush and another 
splash. One of the young men had jumped in the dark 
into the dank pool beside the drowning girl. He was 
able to keep himself and his fair charge afloat until a 
rope reached them. The hero of the tale was the late 
Washington Van Zandt of the Newport family. 

230 



FORT ADAMS 



During the War of 1812 Fort Adams saw no active 
service, and this is true, too, of the Civil War. 

The vicinity of Newport held many fortified points 
during the Revolutionary War and some of the remains 
of these can be seen to-day. One of the most interest- 
ing of these relics is " Dumplings," at the southern tip 
of Conanicut Isle. A belligerent Httle round stone 
tower, it has as pugnacious an appearance to-day as it 
had when a few hardy Americans garrisoned it against 
the English; and it is a favorite picnic point for parties 
from Newport or from the summer colonies on the west 
side of Narragansett Bay. Other ruined defences 
(grass-grown and decayed) are to be found on Conani- 
cut whose history is so obscure that even legend has little 
to say about them ; but they are all a part of the expres- 
sion of the doughty spirit which moved Newport and its 
vicinity during the Revolution. 

Goat Island in Newport Harbor, now the home of 
the Fort Wolcott torpedo station, and a naval hospital, 
was, we are told by Edward Field, in his interesting 
monograph, " Revolutionary Defences in Rhode 
Island," the site of a fortification as early as 1700. 
This early fortification was known as Fort Anna; later 
Fort George; then, Fort Liberty; and, at the time of 
the Revolution, Fort Washington. 



^^ 






/ 



FORT MONROE 

OLD POINT COMFORT— VIRGINIA 




ORNING bugle call, the evening 
gun, grey ships of war stealing in 
from a misty sea with long plumes 
of soft black smoke, military uni- 
forms on the streets and trig bright 
iQ houses are, probably, the average 
civilian's impressions of a stay at 
Old Point Comfort where is located Fort Monroe. 
" Fort " or " Fortress," for the place changes its sex 
indiiferently according to the state of mind of the 
speaker, it probably satisfies the popular conception of 
a mighty stronghold of defence more completely than 
any other such establishment in the United States. 
And, indeed, it is a great defensive work, guarding one 
of the most vital points of entrance in this country, 
menacing hostile approach to the very capital of the 
country itself. 

At the southern limit of the western shore of the 
Chesapeake Bay is a long sandy peninsula whose ex- 
tremity in times of flood is cut off from the mainland 
by a narrow wash of water, and on this sometimes iso- 
lated tip of the peninsula is situated Fort ^lonroe. The 
grounds of the reservation, which includes all of the 
residence portion of the little community, too, embrace 
about 280 acres of almost always drj^ land. The walls 

232 



FORT MONROE 



of the fort itself encircle the greater part of this number 
of acres. 

From the summit of these walls one looks out upon 
a wide prospect of waters. To the south is Hampton 
Roads, into which empty the waters of the James, the 
Elizabeth and the Nansemond Rivers. To the east lies 
the wide expanse of the lower Chesapeake Bay, giving 
access to the Potomac and the network of other rivers 
which the bay holds as tributaries. From all directions 
except from the west pours in upon Old Point a vivi- 
fying draught of pure salt air. From the west, — from 
the mainland, — come all manner of humidities, unpleas- 
antness and mosquitoes, but this is only one of four 
points of the compass. 

It is a healthy place, this Old Point Comfort, so 
healthy, indeed, that in a grave government report of 
1877 the army surgeon at the post tells his superiors 
in Washington that there is a legend in the army that 
the air of the place conduces to fecundity in the families 
stationed there. He adds that from his own professional 
practice and his observation of the number of children 
playing in the streets he believes that there is more than 
fancy in the idea I 

The visitor to Fort Monroe will almost invariably 
come by water, though there is a roundabout way of 
reaching the post by way of trolley from Newport News 
— through quaint old Hampton, past Hampton Institute 
and over a long trestle to the reservation. He will see, 

233 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



first, on putting foot upon the wharf and fighting off 
the hungry hordes of hackmen and baggage smashers, 
the red walls of a popular hotel. To the right is a 
triangular park, on the far side of whose spread of 
green is a row of modem cottages of pretentious archi- 
tecture, which are given over to the superior officers 
stationed at the post. Beyond the roofs of these can 
be seen, in glimpses, the battlements of the old fort. 
Perhaps our visitor will penetrate on farther back into 
the grounds, along the winding main street, until he 
comes to the main entrance to the fort, faced by an inn 
much used by officers and the military set. Here there 
are cottages, of less imposing aspect than those facing 
the sea, which are given over to the younger officers and 
their families. Here also one has his first clear view of 
the fort walls. 

Without a doubt it is recollection of the moat that 
one carries away from Fortress Monroe, primarily. 
This broad band of water, encircling the high, grey old 
walls of the place, appeals strongly to one's romantic 
sense. Ho, warder! to the draw-bridge! And all that 
sort of thing. There is a draw-bridge, too, — five of 
them, in fact, at the five entrances to the fort. So, ho, 
for the draw-bridge and a view inside the fort! 

The visitor who crosses the narrow way leading 
across the moat and penetrates to the interior of For- 
tress Monroe will not be greatly impressed by show of 
military works. These are all quietly and modestly 

234 



FORT MONROE 



ready in the background, somewhere. He will find him- 
self in a charming sort of park which strongly suggests 
the tropics in its luxuriance of foliage of all kinds. 
Indeed the air of Old Point, for some reasons, supports 
tropical plant growth that will not live in the country- 
side immediately adjoining. One of the effective sights 
that the visitor sees in the fort are the clumps of fig 
trees which are to be found, and there are to be found, 
too, magnolia and rhododendron and crape myrtle. 

There is a large parade ground, flanked on the east 
and north by long barracks. The rest of the grounds, 
not including the casemates, is given over to residences, 
to various store-houses and to a building of the Coast 
Artillery School which has been located at Monroe since 

1867. 

The casemates of the old fort are used as residences 
for married private soldiers and for other purposes, not 
transparently military. The long rows of heavy cannon 
once to be seen here are to be found no more, their place 
being taken by modern batteries elsewhere. 

There is to be seen the casemate in which Jefferson 
Davis, president of the Confederate States, was con- 
fined after the working out of the destiny of the Lost 
Cause. It is not different from its neighbors, and is an 
inconspicuous little compartment in a wall with an orna- 
mental little two-post doorway and one window. Many 
curious visitors stop before it. 

Old Point Comfort and all of this section of the 

235 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



lower Chesapeake have seen many strange visitors and 
cargoes in the Past. Doughty old Captain John Smith 
came to Hampton Roads and wrote about what he saw 
with that wealth of picturesque detail which those old 
chroniclers loved to pour forth. The name Point Com- 
fort itself came from the circumstance that Smith was 
cast into this Hampton Roads on the wings of a storm 
at sea and that he hailed the first strip of solid land that 
he saw as a comfort, indeed. At an early period a settle- 
ment was made here, as a subsidiary of the Jamestown 
colony, and, as early as 1611, a fort was built on the 
point as a defence against Indians and freebooting 
marauders of buccaneer type. The fort was armed and 
known as Fort Algernon, in honor of Lord Algernon 
Percie, one of the directors of the Virginia Company. 
The greatest fort of the country was once called 
Algernon ! 

This little fortification was not of long life, however. 
It was maintained for a few years by the Jamestown 
colony but went into decay after the failure of its 
parent. The strategic value of the Point as a place for 
defence was not lost sight of, however, in any succeed- 
ing generation, though the place was not called into 
service for many years. 

The foundations of Fortress Monroe were laid in 
1819, and the works were carried forward actively for 
ten years. The plans were drawn by the famous 
Bernard, one-time aide-de-camp of the first Napoleon, 

236 



FORT MONROE 



and one of his leading engineers. It was Bernard's am- 
bition to construct in the United States (he came to the 
United States in 1816 and immediately entered the em- 
ploy of the government) one great fortress like the 
works of Antwerp, in the fortification of which he had 
a large share. Fort Monroe, named in honor of the 
president who did so much to make sure that the coast 
defences of the country should be adequately founded, 
was the result of this vision. 

It is to be seen that the life of the present fortifica- 
tion begins after the War of 1812, but the military his- 
tory of the vicinity of Fort Monroe prior to that time is 
full of interest. 

During the Revolution the mouth of the Chesapeake 
was guarded by British cruisers and a rigorous blockade 
was maintained. Despite this, during the war no less 
than 248 privateers were fitted out in the waters of the 
Chesapeake and managed to gain the high seas by elud- 
ing the vigilance of the patrol beyond the capes. 

In 1779 General Leslie sailed from New York with 
3000 of His Majesty's troopers to land upon the penin- 
sula not far from the site of Fort Monroe and there to 
await orders from Lord Cornwallis, who was in North 
Carolina. He entered Hampton Roads and took Nor- 
folk and Portsmouth, fortifying the latter place as a 
base for future operations. After some weeks of in- 
activity, he re-embarked and sailed to reinforce Corn- 
wallis at Charleston. In the following year Clinton 

237 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ordered the traitor Arnold with 50 sail and 1600 soldiers 
to replace Leslie. 

The Arnold expedition proceeded up the James 
River in 1781 and set the torch to the public buildings 
of Richmond. After pillaging Petersburg, it returned 
to Portsmouth and threw up strong intrenchments. 
Lafayette attempted to stay this destroying band but 
had not force enough of his own and did not receive 
expected reinforcement. The fleet which had been sent 
to augment his numbers was engaged by the British 
under Admiral Arbuthnot off the capes and compelled, 
after a hot engagement, to withdraw to Newport. The 
English thus retained their hold on Hampton Roads 
and were enabled to send additional forces to General 
Arnold under General Phillips. In April the combined 
forces under Arnold moved again up the James River, 
burning and pillaging. 

Cornwallis occupied Portsmouth shortly after this, 
but soon again moved to Yorktown, where he threw up 
huge intrenchments, the outlines of which are plainly 
discernible at the present day. In September, 1781, the 
French under Comte de Grasse were successful in enter- 
ing the Chesapeake to co-operate with Washington, 
Lafayette and Rochambeau. The British fleet under 
Admiral Graves sturdily contested the capes, but was 
forced to surrender the hold which it had maintained 
so effectively. In the ensuing month occurred the his- 
toric surrender of Cornwallis. 

238 



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FORT MONROE 



During the War of 1812, a British order in council 
declared the Chesapeake to be in a state of blockade, and 
in 1813 Rear- Admiral Cockburn of His Majesty's navy- 
was sent to Lynnliaven Bay, near Norfolk. The Amer- 
icans had a large flotilla in Hampton Roads, and had 
constructed Forts Norfolk and Nelson on the Elizabeth 
River near Norfolk and had thrown up intrenchments 
on Craney Island, these dispositions all being under the 
direction of Brigadier General Robert B. Taylor. 

At daybreak of June 22, 1813, a determined attack 
was made by the British under Cockburn from land and 
sea, which was repulsed. Three days later quiet Hamp- 
ton was captured after a gallant defence by an inade- 
quate garrison and the town pillaged in barbaric fashion. 
Soon after, Cockburn withdrew to the coasts of South 
Carolina and Georgia, but resumed his operations in the 
lower Chesapeake March 1, 1814. In July, 1814, he 
was largely reinforced and with a combined land and 
naval expedition commenced that march up the Chesa- 
peake which culminated in the sacking of Washington 
and the final repulse of the expedition at Fort Mc- 
Henry. This was the last important engagement of 
the War of 1812. 

During the Civil War Fortress Monroe saw stirring 
scenes, though it had no very active part in any of them. 
In October, 1861, Hampton Roads off the fort was the 
rendezvous for great land and naval forces under 
Admiral Dupont and General Sherman designed to 

239 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



capture Hilton Head. In the January following 
another great force was brought together here for oper- 
ations on the Carolina coast. In the spring of 1862 
McClellan's army arrived at Old Point and went to 
Yorktown. 

In March of 1862 occurred in Hampton Roads the 
episodes of the Merrimac. A watcher on the walls of 
Fort Monroe would have seen this queer, square vessel, 
covered with railroad iron, sailing down the blue waters. 
He might have seen the sinking of the Cumberland with 
the greater part of her crew despite her desperate, im- 
potent efforts against this new kind of adversary. He 
might have witnessed the destruction of the Congress 
by fire and the partial disabling of the Minnesota. He 
might have heard in the old fort that night the barrack- 
room gossip of the new giant and whispers of the ex- 
pected arrival of a United States champion which was 
to take up the gage of combat. The next day he might 
have seen from the ramparts the struggle between the 
Merrimac and the Monitor, which ushered in a new 
chapter in naval warfare and began the era of the steelr 
clad knight of the seas. 

Later Old Point Comfort became the base of opera- 
tion of the Army of the James. 

In 1893, during the celebration of the Columbian 
Exposition, Hampton Roads was the rendezvous under 
the guns of old Monroe for the vessels of all of the 
nations of the world. The old fort sees the most im- 
portant manoeuvres of the United States navy of to-day. 

240 






FORTS SUMTER AND MOULTRIE 

NEAR CHARLESTON— SOUTH CAROLINA 




HE bombardment of Fort Sumter 
from Fort Moultrie began at 
dawn of April 12, 1861, and con- 
tinued without remission for 
about 36 hours, or until noon of 
the second day. During that 
time, though shot and shell played 
havoc with the walls of both the besiegers and the be- 
sieged, no human being was hurt, — a strange prelim- 
inary, indeed, to the most murderous civil war since 
the invention of gunpowder in the history of the world. 
This has been called the first time in history that 
two forts waged battle against each other. It was like 
two strong men, tied by the feet, almost beyond reach 
of each other, being allowed to strike at each other until 
one or the other should fall. 

To understand something of the conditions which 
governed this very historic bout between Fort Sumter 
and Fort Moultrie, one must have some idea of the lay 
of the land at Charleston. Charleston, itself, it may be 
pointed out, is situated on a long narrow spit of land at 
the juncture of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. The 
arrow-head formed by these two rivers points almost 
directly toward the mouth of Charleston Bay, where the 
waters of the two rivers joined mingle with the Atlantic 
Ocean. Let us go to the point of the arrow-head upon 

16 241 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



which Charleston is situated, to the Battery, — that is, 
Charleston's most famous public park, — and gaze sea- 
ward: Five miles away, across a shimmering blue, we 
see a little geometrical dot almost midway between the 
jaws which hold Charleston Bay. This is Fort Sumter, 
a little stone work built by the United States Govern- 
ment in 1828 on a sandy shallow. Fort Moultrie is 
situated on Sullivan's Island, on the northern one of the 
two jaws of the bay, a body of land really distinct from 
the mainland but which seems from this distance to be 
a part of that land. Of the two fortifications. Fort 
Moultrie is the older and by long odds the more inter- 
esting as to past. 

Wise heads of both sections in 1860 saw that war 
was inevitable between the North and the South, though 
patriots did their best to prevent armed conflict. But 
the doctrine of State individualism or State's Rights 
was too firmly established to be gotten from the body 
corporate without a purging of blood, just as individual 
rights in the social structure can never be enforced to 
the last limit without conflicting with the community 
purpose. So when, on Christmas night, 1860, Major 
Anderson, commanding at Fort Moultrie, moved his 
whole force secretly over to the sub-post. Fort Sumter, 
and sent his women and children to Charleston, with 
the request that they be sent north, the citizens of 
Charleston, at least, knew that the issue had been 
squarely met, to be settled at the court of last resort. 

242 








s 



■< 



FORT SUMTER 



Mrs. St. Julien Ravenel, in her delightful reminis- 
cences of Charleston, writes: 

Doubt and delay were gone. Then came the call to arms . . . 
January, February, and March were so full of crowded life 
that they seemed an eternity, yet one dreaded lest eternity 
should end. End it did when one night at eleven o'clock seven 
guns thundered out over the town and every man sprang up, 
seized his rifle and ran to the wharves. It was the signal that 
the relieving fleet (from the north) was on its way south, and 
that the whole reserve must hurry to the islands. 

During all this time Fort Sumter had been supplied 
with provisions and necessaries by the citizens of 
Charleston. 

When Major Anderson in command at Fort Sumter 
accepted Beauregard's terms of surrender and saluted 
the new flag, he was conveyed, with all the honors of 
war, in the steamer Isabel to the United States fleet 
which had lain idle in the offing. 

From this time until the end of the Civil War 
Charleston was in a state of siege. There was a short 
period of preparation on both sides before the Federal 
fleet appeared, November, 1861, outside the quaint old 
city. The city maintained its integrity complete against 
attacks by water, and finally fell to a move in force by 
land in the last year of the war, when the defenders of 
Charleston were withdrawn and all of the men of the 
remnants of the armies of the Confederacy were being 

243 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



concentrated for one last desperate protest against the 
inevitable. 

After the Civil War Fort Sumter was repaired and 
strengthened and is still a seat of military power as a 
sub-post of Fort Moultrie. 

"^ To reach Fort Moultrie one goes from Charleston 
by ferry to the northern side of the Cooper River and 
takes a trolley which leads seaward along the coast 
across an inlet to Sullivan's Island, which has become a 
popular summer place with many people of Charleston. 

Fort INIoultrie, when once it is reached, is not a 
pretentious place, — the old works, that is, — being simply 
a star-shaped fort of brownish-red brick on which the 
hot southern sun pours down in quantity. It overlooks 
a rumpled beach and the sea on one side and flat unin- 
teresting land on the other. To the seaward one can 
gaze upon Fort Sumter and find it not more interesting 
of aspect close at hand than it is at a distance. Beside 
the gate of Fort Moultrie is a small marble shaft which 
marks the grave of Osceola, the Seminole chieftain. If 
one has devoured Indian tales in his youth he will no 
doubt be more interested in this simple memorial than 
in the immediate aspect of military things around him. 
It was in Fort Moultrie that Osceola was jailed after 
his capture in Florida and it was here that he died, — 
from a broken heart, if one is still interested in Indian 
stories ! 

The present Fort Moultrie was started in 1841 on 

244 



r' 



FORT MOULTRIE 



the site of a famous old palmetto structure of the same 
name which had stood since early Revolutionary days. 
In 1903, with the exquisite tact which it displays occa- 
sionally, army headquarters in Washington decided to 
change the name of the fort to Fort Getty in honor of 
some deserving soldier whose career is recorded in the 
files of the Army Department, but the loud chorus of 
indignation that greeted this move carried all the way 
from Charleston to Washington, and the name of that 
delightful old Revolutionary character, William H. 
Moultrie, is still preserved at the spot where his first 
battle was fought. 

The foundations of Fort Moultrie were laid in 
January, 1776, when a Mr. Dewees, owner of the island 
which bears his name, was ordered to deliver at Sul- 
livan's Island palmetto logs eighteen to twenty feet 
long and not less than ten inches in diameter in the 
middle; and Colonel Moultrie was ordered to superin- 
tend the erection of a fort from this material. It was 
not completed in June when the British came into view. 
In design a double square pen it was built of palmetto 
logs piled one upon the other and securely bolted to- 
gether; the space between the outer and inner pen was 
about sixteen feet and this was filled in with sand; 
there were square bastions. The walls were intended 
to be ten feet high above the gun platforms where were 
mounted 64 guns. 

The British fleet bearing a land force was under 

245 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



the command of Admiral Sir Peter Parker, and reached 
Cape Fear early in May, where it was joined by Sir 
Henry Clinton from New York with a portion of the 
troops which had participated in the Battle of Bunker 
Hill. Clinton assumed command of all the land forces. 
On the 4th of June the fleet appeared off Charleston 
bar and a small force of men was landed on Long 
Island, the island just north of Sullivan's Island, and 
on the 28th of June advanced under Sir Peter Parker 
to give battle to Fort Sullivan, as Moultrie was then 
known. There were brought into action in this engage- 
ment the following English vessels: The Bristol and 
Experiment of 50 guns each; the frigates Active, Sole- 
hay, Act eon. Siren, and Sphinx of 28 gims each; the 
Thunderbo7nh and Ranger, sloops, of 28 guns; and the 
Friendship of 22 guns, in all, a very powerful squadron. 
The Americans had their unfinished palmetto fort, 64 
guns and 1200 men. Several days before the battle the 
fussy General Charles Lee, whom Washington after- 
wards in his only recorded uncontrolled exhibition of 
temper called, at the battle of Monmouth, " a damned 
poltroon," had removed to another defence of the city 
half of the small quantity of gunpowder which ]Moultrie 
had been given for the defence of his fort. 

The command of the defence of Charleston had been 
given to General Lee by the Continental Congress, and 
General Lee had appeared in the city on the same day 
that the British fleet was sighted off the bar. From 

246 



FORT MOULTRIE 



the first he seems to have been in conflict with Moultrie. 
Moultrie's fort, he said, was poorly designed, and doubt- 
less it was; Moultrie should provide a means of re- 
treat for his men, and Moultrie replied that they would 
never use it; and Moultrie this and that. Moultrie 
himself, his admirers were forced to admit, was " a 
man of very easy manners, leaving to others many 
things which he had better have attended to himself." 

But the point is that Moultrie carried this same 
easiness of manner and mental poise into battle with 
him and was on this account an ideal officer to direct a 
fight. He had, moreover, the unlimited confidence and 
affection of his men and he knew the people he was 
working with. 

The British appeared ofi^ Fort Sullivan just when 
the feeling between General Lee and Moultrie was at 
an acute stage. We find Moultrie now at face with the 
problem of defending his *' slaughter pen " fort against 
an overwhelming force with the insufficient quantity of 
gunpowder which General Lee had left him. 

The ships formed in double column and poured a 
terrific fire upon the fort. Moultrie feared that the 
concussion of the shells would rock his guns off their 
platforms. " Concentrate upon the Admiral, upon the 
fifty-gun ships! " This was Moultrie's direction to his 
men. The Americans, expert marksmen that they were, 
obeyed his commands and the Bristol and the Eocperi- 

247 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ment suffered fearfully, the captains of these two great 
ships being mortally wounded. 

The Americans now began to run short of powder. 
Colonel Moultrie sent a despatch for more. He was in 
pressing need, but no one would have guessed it from 
his message which read as follows: 

I think we shall want more powder; at the rate we go on I 
think we shall. But you can see for yourself; pray send more 
if you think proper. 

Rutledge sent 500 pounds, and Lee, who was at 
HaddrelFs with 5000 pounds he had taken from Fort 
Sullivan, sent no powder but the message: 

If you should unfortunately expend your ammunition with- 
out driving off the enemy spike your guns and retreat with all 
the order you can. I know you will be careful not to expend 
your ammunition. 

General Lee had an idea that battles were fought 
with bows and arrows and gunpowder kept to celebrate 
the victory afterwards with! And he was determined 
that that retreat should take place, because he had 
prophesied a retreat by all the laws of war some weeks 
before. 

The cannonade went on, the fire from the fort being 
at a much slower tempo than that from the ships. And 
now a new fact was discovered in the art of war: The 
soft palmetto logs with sand in betw^een were a better 
bulwark than solid stone. Cannon balls entered them 

248 



FORT MOULTRIE 



easily and stopped just as easily without sending 
splinters all around. Shells threw the sand up in the 
air and the sand fell back again to the spot whence it 
had risen. 

The Bristol, the flag-ship, suff'ered more than any 
other of the British vessels. At one time Sir Peter was 
the only man unwounded on the quarter-deck, and he, 
too, presently was hurt. 

The Act eon went hard aground on the shoal where 
Fort Sumter was afterwards to be raised and had to be 
abandoned, being set on fire before she was deserted. 

The rattle-snake flag flying over the American fort 
was shot down, and Sergeant Jasper, leaping over the 
parapet, braved the fire of the British to recover the 
emblem. Sergeant Jasper lost his life at Savannah in 
an effort to duplicate this same feat. 

At length the British drew off" beaten. They had 
lost heavily, on the flag-ship alone 104 men being killed. 
The American loss was 12 killed and 25 wounded. 
When the news of this defeat reached England, though 
the intelligence was given out by the Admiralty in the 
most politic fashion possible, it was a terrible blow to 
English pride. " That an English admiral with a well- 
appointed fleet of 270 guns should be beaten ofl* by a 
miserable little half-built fort on an uninhabited sand 
bank was incomprehensible," wrote a correspondent 
from London. Had Moultrie had powder enough the 
British loss must have been much heavier than it was. 

249 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



On the 9th of April, 1780, Fort Moultrie was again 
in action, when it opened upon Admiral Ai'buthnot's 
fleet which was sailing into the harbor in the course of 
the operations against Charleston that year. It was 
unable to prevent the passage of the fleet but it inflicted 
some damage to the vessels and killed 27 of the enemy. 
Shortly after Fort Moultrie fell to an overwhelming 
force of British who attacked by land, and was not 
again in action during the Revolution. 



a^' 



FORT PULASKI 

AT MOUTH, SAVANNAH RIVER— GEORGIA 




HE trip from beautiful Savannah 
to the battered ruins of the once 
famous brick fortress, Pulaski, 
takes one through that gold and 
green country which one comes 
to associate with the name of this 
charming southern city. Fort 
Pulaski is that great hexagon of brick which one sees 
from incoming steamers on Cockspur Island at the 
mouth of the muddy Savannah River, and all the coun- 
try round about is marshy, reedy land, cut up by big 
and little streams with no hills to be seen and only 
scraggy pine trees breaking the flat monotony of the 
horizon. 

If one would go to Fort Pulaski from Savannah, he 
seeks out the little railroad which runs to Tybee, and 
whose passenger traffic is confined almost exclusively 
to summer. There he will be received by the hospitable 
southern trainmen and put off the train near the light- 
house which graces the northern end of Cockspur Island. 
Here, if he has been wise and has made his arrangements 
properly, he will be met by a boat from the light-house 
and will be carried across to the island. 

Arrived at the landing which gives access to the 
fort, one is struck by the graceful desolation of the scene. 
The boards and timbers of the wharf have rotted, and 

251 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ends of planks hang down toward the water hke 
withered arms. Yet the briUiant Georgia sunshine gives 
a charm to it all. One does not feel in the presence of 
decay; one feels only in the presence of something that 
is passing painlessly away. 

This same feeling one carries up the long, straight, 
muddy path leading to the ruined monument of valor 
through the marsh which surrounds that work. One 
comes to a broad ditch now full of mud and weeds and 
faces the remains of a once sturdy draw-bridge. Pass- 
ing over this and between the mounds of former out- 
works one at last faces the entrance to Fort Pulaski. 

The walls of this great brick fortress, which cost a 
million dollars and was one of the greatest brick for- 
tresses of its time, tower over one with great impressive- 
ness. The brick face is pierced by long narrow slits for 
rifle fire, and these peer at one vacantly. A large ditch, 
or moat, surrounds the fort, and this still contains water 
owing to the low elevation of the island above tide, but 
it is choked with rank vegetation and though horrid of 
aspect would not be a serious bar to the approach of 
any storming force. 

Crossing the ditch, one passes through a long pas- 
sage and past massive wooden gates studded with iron 
bolts and, at length, comes out upon the parade ground. 
Where brilliant columns once formed and marched in 
martial evolutions now wave tall saplings except where 
the solitary care-taker of the fort has cut these growths 

252 



I 



FORT PULASKI 



down to make room for a vegetable garden. The walls 
go around in a great circle above this parade, the angles 
of the circumference not being easily perceptible from 
our vantage point. To the right hand and the left hand 
stretch casemates in which officers and men dwelt. On 
the far side of the parade are open casemates fitted for 
cannon, for this is the quarter from which attack might 
be expected. Close at hand is a spring whose clear 
water flows ceaselessly from the rusty iron mouth which 
the hand of man has provided and neglected. 

Passing across the parade to the gun casemates, 
which occupy the flanks of the fort on three quarters 
of the compass, one finds the flooring still in good con- 
dition, this fact being due to the protected nature of 
this part of the fort and to the sturdy quality of the 
planks which are three inches thick and of some close- 
grained wood — probably cypress. The circular gun- 
tracks are still visible. Where one can peer through 
holes in the floor one gazes down into dank, dark depths 
from which the light is reflected evilly by scummy water. 

At the northeast angle of the fort are the remains 
of one of the magazines. If one cares to prowl in here 
and is willing to make entrance through a mysterious 
black hole into an uncanny void, he will be rewarded 
for his adventure by being able to pick up some rusty 
grape-shot and smaller odds and ends of murderous 
looking iron. 

Ascending to the parapet of the fort by means of 

253 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



one of the twisting iron stairs which are to be found at 
each angle, or by the broad stone stairs adjacent to the 
habitable casemates, one has a wide view of land and 
sea. To the east lies the mouth of the Savannah River 
where this stream joins the Atlantic Ocean. In this 
direction, too, can be seen long, low, sandy Tybee Point, 
where Fort Screven, the modern defensive work, lies. 
To the south are marshes and in the distance the gleam 
of the river up which the Union forces brought their 
cannon to attack Fort Pulaski in 1862. To the north 
and west — more marshes. 

The island on which Fort Pulaski is situated was 
acquired by the government in 1830 by purchase from 
Alexander Telfair and sisters (an old and wealthy 
Savannah family) and the title of the government 
thereto for the purposes of a fortification was confirmed 
by the State of Georgia by act December 27, 1845. 
The entire reservation occupies about 150 acres. 

The site for the fort was selected by Major General 
Babcock, United States Corps of Engineers, and work 
was begun in 1831 under the direction of Major General 
Mansfield. Sixteen years passed before its mighty 
walls, containing thirteen millions of bricks, were com- 
pleted. The name Pulaski was given to the fort in 
honor of Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish patriot who 
lost his life in the siege of Savannah by the Americans 
during the Revolution, the scene of this sad event being 
the Spring Hill redoubt near the site of the present 
Central of Georgia railway station. 

254 



FORT PULASKI 



The military history of Fort Pulaski does not cover 
a long period of time. When, in December, 1860, the 
news reached Savannah of the removal of Major An- 
derson, in command of the United States forces in 
Charleston Harbor, from Fort Moultrie to Fort 
Sumter, there was an open expression of opinion that 
Georgia should forestall such occupation of the forts on 
her coast by the forces of the Federal government ; and 
when, on January 2, 1861, it became known that Gov- 
ernor Brown had ordered the seizure and occupation of 
Fort Pulaski by the military under the command of 
Colonel A. R. Lawton on the following day, the city 
was wild with enthusiasm. 

Says Adelaide Wilson in her delightful history of 
Savannah : 

Looking back upon the arrangements that were made for the 
setting out of that first military expedition, there is temptation 
to smile at the amount of impedimenta that was prepared for 
the small forces of less than two hundred men. There was scant 
time between the promulgation of the order and the hour named 
for its execution, yet when, on the morning of the third, the 
companies marched down to the wharf to embark on the Httle 
steamer Ida, it is safe to say that they were encumbered with 
much more baggage than served later in the war for an entire 
division in the field. Every man had his cot, every three or four 
men his mess-chest, with kettles, pots, pans and other cooking 
utensils in liberal allowance, not to speak of trunks, valises, 
mattresses, camp-chairs, etc., — in all a pile large enough to 
make the heart of a quartermaster sink within him. It was evi- 

255 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



dent that the troops long had anticipated the call upon their 
services, and also that the mothers, wives and sisters of Savan- 
nah had, with anxious forethought, determined that their loved 
ones should carry into service as many of the comforts of home 
as possible. 

The siege of Pulaski by the Federal troops, April, 
1862, was not long at the climax, though it was long in 
preparation. The Federal forces gathered slowly south 
of Savannah and then moved to the attack. By means 
of a channel in the flats to the south of the fort which 
I the Confederates had left unguarded, they were able to 
post their guns in advantageous positions. As the re- 
sult of a heavy bombardment the walls of the fort were 
battered in at the east salient and the garrison was 
obliged to surrender. 

The visitor to Fort Pulaski to-day may see some 
of the wounds in the walls which the fort sustained on 
that occasion. The worst injuries were repaired by the 
United States troops during their occupancy of the 
fort, and the course of these repairs may be traced by 
the discerning eye through the different color of the 
bricks. 

Shortly after the Civil War, Fort Pulaski was 
abandoned. It is still controlled by the government and 
is in the care of a retired soldier of the United States 
who lives a life of seclusion, disturbed only by the very 
infrequent sight-seer or by parties of young men of the 
neighborhood who find the marshes of the reservation 
an excellent gunning preserve. 



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The Battered Eastern Salient 
SCENES OF DESOLATION AT FORT PULASKI, NEAR SAVANNAH, GA. 



FORT MORGAN 

MOBILE BAY— ALABAMA 




OBILE BAY, that pear-shaped 
body of water, with its far-reaching 
system of water tributaries, has 
been a scene of settlement and 
fortification since the early days of 
French attempts at settlement in 
the New World. There was, to 
begin with. Fort Louis de la Mobile, which protected 
the infant first settlement of Mobile, precursor of the 
city of to-day. In various guises Fort Louis passed from 
one to another of the different races of men with which 
the history of Mobile Bay is associated. Then there are 
the forts placed on the islands at the mouth of Mobile 
Bay and the forts at the head of the bay where the big 
rivers flow in. Finally there is Fort Morgan (Fort 
Bowyer to begin with) which occupies the point of that 
long, thin peninsula of land which forms the southern 
boundary of Mobile Bay, dividing its waters from the 
waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Fort Morgan to-day is in ruins and has never been 
thoroughly rebuilt since its capitulation to Farragut in 
one of the hottest battles of the Civil War. The gov- 
ernmental reservation of land on which the works are 
situated contains about 500 acres and is occupied, as 
well, by modern defences. The view from the point 
on which the old fort is situated gives a wide prospect 

17 257 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



of blue water and sky. Across the ship channel is his- 
toric Dauphine Island, on which Fort Morgan's sister 
fort, Fort Gaines, was situated, and where the govern- 
ment to-day maintains extensive batteries. To the right 
are the waters of Mobile Bay, with the smoke of the 
city thirty miles to the north. To the left are the sunny 
waves of the Gulf. 

The first that we hear of Mobile Point as a place of 
fortification was in 1812, when the Spanish evacuated 
Mobile. General Wilkinson, in command of the United 
States forces in the southwest, put nine guns as a bat- 
tery on Mobile Point and made his way on up to the 
city, where he commenced to fortify the perdido. Sub- 
sequently Mobile Point appealed to him as a better 
place for defensive works than a spot so far up the bay, 
and he placed a fortification here, which was called Fort 
Bowj'^er in honor of Lieutenant-Colonel Bowj^er. 

The next occupant of Fort Bowj^er was a more pic- 
turesque personage than General Wilkinson, none other 
than Andrew Jackson. Upon his retirement from 
Pensacola in 1814, Jackson stopped at Fort Bowyer 
and left a force there of 130 men under the leadership 
of Major William Lawrence. On September 12 the 
British appeared before the fort with land and naval 
strength and demanded the surrender of the little struc- 
ture. Major Lawrence refused to surrender. 

The British strength on this occasion consisted of 
the Hermes of 22 guns, the Sophia of 18 guns, the 
Car on of 20 guns. Anaconda of 18 guns, all vessels of 

258 



FORT MORGAN 



large size, under the command of Captain Percy. It 
was a squadron which Jackson had driven from Pensa- 
cola Bay and it was thirsting for revenge. There was, 
in addition, a land force under Colonel Nichols of a few 
marines and about 600 Indians which assailed Fort 
Bowyer from the rear. 

The battle began early on the morning of the 15th. 
The word for the day in the American ranks was 
*' Don't give up the fort," and this originated an oft- 
repeated phrase. A heavy cannonade continued with- 
out interruption until 5.30 o'clock in the afternoon. The 
flag-staff of the Hermes, Captain Percy's flag-ship, was 
shot away and Lawrence gave the order to cease firing 
while he hailed the vessel to find out whether she had 
lowered her colors. The only answer was a murderous 
volley of grape-shot from another quarter. The flag- 
staff of the fort then happened to be struck, and the 
Indians and British on shore, thinking that the plucky 
little garrison had surrendered, ran forward with ter- 
rible cries. They were met by a terrific hail of lead 
which drove them back for good. 

Finally the battered English vessels drew off. The 
Hermes was found to be in such bad shape that she was 
set on fire by her crew and abandoned. Her destruc- 
tion was completed by the explosion of her magazine. 
The British loss was 232, of which number 163 were 
killed. The American loss was 4 killed and 4 wounded. 
The British in this engagement outnumbered the 
Americans more than six times. 

259 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



The great adventure of Fort JNIorgan's life, how- 
ever, was in the Civil War at the time of the taking of 
Mobile. The stronghold had been considerably en- 
larged and strengthened and had been re-christened by 
its Confederate possessors at the outbreak of that dis- 
astrous struggle between brother and brother. It is 
described in official records of the time as a pentagonal 
bastioned work, with a full scarp brick wall, 4 feet 8 
inches thick, its armament consisting of 86 guns of 
various calibres. The garrison, including officers and 
men, numbered 640. 

The force under Farragut consisted of fourteen 
large wooden steam vessels of war and four iron-clads 
of which the Teciimseh arrived from Pensacola just in 
time for the engagement. The wooden vessels were 
lashed together in pairs and the whole column was 
headed by the iron-clads. 

It was on the morning of August 5, 1864, that 
Farragut commenced his passage into INIobile Bay. 
Long before the break of day through the whole fleet 
could be heard the boatswain's whistles and the cheery 
cries of " all hands " and " up all hammocks." The wind 
was west-southwest, just where Farragut wanted it, as 
it would blow the smoke of the guns on Fort Morgan. 
At four o'clock the fleet set in motion, led by the four 
monitors. At 6.47 the booming of the Tecumselis guns 
was heard and shortly afterward Morgan replied. The 
story may now be taken up in the words of an officer 
on board the flag-ship Hartford: 

260 



I 



FORT MORGAN 



The order was to " go slowly, go slowly " and receive the fire 
of Fort Morgan. At six minutes past seven the fort opened, 
having allowed us to get into such short range that we appre- 
hended some snare; in fact, I heard the order passed for our 
guns to be elevated for fourteen hundred yards some time before 
one was fired. The calmness of the scene was sublime. No im- 
patience, no irritation, no anxiety, except for the fort to open ; 
and after it did open full five minutes elapsed before we an- 
swered. In the meantime the guns were trained as if at a target 
and all the sounds I could hear were " steady boys, steady ! Left 
tackle a little ! So, so !" Then the roar of a broadside and the 
eager cheer as the enemy were driven from their water battery. 
Don't imagine they were frightened; no man could stand under 
that iron shower; and the brave fellows returned to their guns 
as soon as it lulled, only to be driven off again. 

At twenty minutes past seven we had come within range of 
the enemy's gunboats which opened their fire upon the Hartford, 
and as the Admiral afterward told me made her their special tar- 
get. First they struck our foremast and then lodged a shot of 
120 pounds in our mainmast. By degrees they got better eleva- 
tion ; and I have saved a splinter from the hammock netting to 
show how they felt their way lower. Splinters after that came 
by cords, and in size sometimes were like logs of wood. No 
longer came the cheering cry " Nobody hurt yet." The Hart- 
ford by some unavoidable chance fought the enemy's fleet and 
fort together for twenty minutes by herself, timbers crashing 
and wounded pouring down, — cries never to be forgotten. 

By half past seven the iron-clad Tecumseh was well 
up with the fort and drawing slowly by, when suddenly 
she reeled to port and went down straightway with 
almost every soul on board. She had struck a mine. 

261 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



For a time this appalling disaster spread confusion in 
the fleet. 

" What's the matter? " was shouted from the flag- 
ship to the Brooklyn just ahead. 

" Torpedoes," was the response. 

" Damn the torpedoes," said Farragut, " go ahead." 

Go ahead the fleet did and at length had passed Fort 
Morgan and was in the sheltering waters of the bay. 
The cost of this operation in the Union fleet was 335 
men. Of the 130 men in the Tecumseh when she was 
struck only 17 were saved. 

Fort Gaines, the works on the western side of the 
channel, now surrendered. But Fort Morgan kept on 
fighting. The Union vessels were in Mobile Bay, but 
they had not yet forced the indomitable fort on INIobile 
Point to its knees. Admiral Farragut wrote to a friend : 

We are now tightening the cords around Fort Morgan. 
Page is as surly as a bull-dog and says that he will die in his 
ditch 

How little people know the risks of life. Drayton made his 
clerk stay below because he was a young married man. All my 
staff, — Watson, McKinley and Brownell, — were in an exposed 
position on the poop deck but escaped unhurt while poor Hegin- 
botham was killed. 

For seventeen days Fort Morgan held out, though 
bombarded continuously. Then at length she surren- 
dered, her citadel destroyed and her walls nearly blown 
to pieces. It is this pathetic shell that now greets the 
visitor's eye on Mobile Point. 



I 



FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP 

AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI— LOUISIANA 




HE two forts which were the 
scene of Farragut's first brilliant 
exploit in running by the enemy's 
works with wooden vessels have 
not been regularly garrisoned 
since 1871 and have been main- 
tained only in a casual sort of a 
fashion. Stronger and newer defences have taken their 
place, though these two spots have had a long and honor- 
able existence in the defence of the mouth of America's 
greatest river and of its picturesque French- Spanish- 
American chief city, New Orleans. Situated 32 nautical 
miles by river from the Gulf of Mexico and about 22 
miles from the light-house at the head of the passes of 
the Mississippi, they occupy the first habitable ground 
bordering the river, at a sharp bend known as English 
Turn. Fort St. Philip is on the northern bank of the 
river. Fort Jackson on the southern. Though so far 
from the Gulf by river. Fort St. Philip, owing to the 
peculiar formation of the mouth of the Mississippi, with 
long fingers spread out into the sea, is only a short 
distance from the Gulf as the crow flies. 

About a mile above the site of Fort Jackson there 
stood an ancient French fortification known as Fort 
Bourbon, which gradually yielded to the encroachments 
of time so that now there is of it nothing left. Fort 

263 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



St. Philip, itself, was founded by the French and was 
surrendered to the United States in 1803 with the pur- 
chase of the Louisiana territory. 

The situation of the two forts was early recognized 
by the United States as possessing much military value, 
and in 1812-1815 St. Philip was made over by the 
United States authorities and Fort Jackson was built. 
Fort St. Philip at the time of the Civil War consisted 
of a quadrangular earthwork with brick scarp rising 19 
feet above the level of the river and a wet ditch with 
exterior batteries above and below. Fort Jackson, 
largely added to between 1824 and 1832, was a penta- 
gonal bastioned fortification built of brick with case- 
mates, glacis and wet ditch ; and of the two was the more 
formidable work. 

The two forts saw service in 1814 against the British. 
At this time the name Jackson was applied to the south- 
ern fort in honor of the fiery American commander 
whose defence of that city has become an inspiring 
legend. 

The Confederate Government had early taken pos- 
session of the forts and had put them in complete order. 
When Farragut's fleet appeared, early in the spring of 
1862, Fort Jackson with its water battery mounted 75 
guns and Fort St. Philip about 40. The works were 
garrisoned by about 1500 men, commanded by Briga- 
dier General J. K. Duncan ; St. Philip being under the 
direct command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Hig- 

264 



FORT JACKSON 



gins. Just above the forts the Confederates had placed 
a fleet of 15 vessels, including the iron-clad ram Man- 
assas. Below Fort Jackson they had obstructed the 
river with a heavy chain brought from Pensacola. This 
chain was pinned to the under side of a row of cypress 
logs which were 30 feet long and four or five feet in 
diameter. The spring freshets caused this chain to 
*'break and it was replaced by two lighter chains sup- 
ported in similar fashion. 

As a first move against the Confederate strong- 
holds, Farragut sent Commander Porter with his fleet 
of mortar vessels to bombard the forts. The bombard- 
ment opened on the 18th of April and continued with- 
out remission for six days, but though breaches were 
made in the walls and the levee was broken at one place 
so that the beleaguered men had a difficult task to keep 
the waters of the Mississippi from drowning them out, 
the action was inconclusive. 

It was then that Farragut determined upon the bold 
move (later duplicated at Mobile) which was so great 
an element of his fame. At two o'clock on the morning of 
April 24, 1862, he set his fleet in motion up the river. 
The chain barriers were cut and the fleet contrived to 
get past the fort without serious damage or loss of life. 
Thus was accomplished the feat of passing, with wooden 
vessels in a stream half a mile wide, two forts specially 
prepared to resist such an eff"ort. The Confederate 

265 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



fleet was met beyond the forts and repulsed after a sharp 
engagement. 

Farragut now passed on to New Orleans to make 
sure of the rich prize of a city whose export business 
at that time was the greatest in the world, while Porter 
was left behind with a sufficient squadron to continue 
the bombardment of the forts. After being under con- 
tinuous fire until the 28th of the month the forts sur- 
rendered, and have never since been in active service. 

The reservation of Fort Jackson contains 557.6 
acres and that of Fort St. Philip 1108.85 acres. The 
reservations consist entirely of swamp lands, during 
season of high water being ahnost completely inundated. 
Those portions containing the forts, quarters and other 
buildings are leveed on all sides, but notwithstanding 
the protection thus afforded there are times when the 
water rises so high as to become a source of great incon- 
venience in going about. This is especially the case 
when rain is added to the water which percolates through 
the levees. 

Any account of Fort Jackson would be incomplete 
without allusion to its alligators. These reptiles consti- 
tute one of the principal objects of interest to visitors 
and may be seen in numbers floating in the moats or 
basking on shore in the sunhght. They are from five to 
fifteen feet in length and possess great strength. It was 
customary to feed them with bread and crackers from 
the bridges over the moats, calling them up by whistling, 

266 



FORT ST. PHILIP 



and from frequent occurrence of this act they seemed to 
become accustomed to the signal and responded to it 
just as might dogs. 

The rattlesnakes of the vicinity are numerous and 
formidable. One was caught here measuring 11^ feet 
and having 27 rattles. Black snakes are large but rare. 
Moccasins, of which there are two varieties, attain a 
large size and are frequently very venomous. 

The mosquitoes constitute a serious obstacle to the 
enjoyment of life to the infrequent garrisons at this 
post, for they not only ply their calling with great dili- 
gence during the night but in summer are equally zeal- 
ous throughout the day. Various expedients are 
adopted to avoid and drive them away. The smudge is 
brought into frequent and useful requisition. Gloves 
are worn and covering of mosquito netting is frequently 
used to protect the neck and head. 






FORT SNELLING 

NEAR ST. PAUL— MINNESOTA 




HE historic post of Fort Snelling, 
Minnesota, for more than a gen- 
eration after its estabhshment, in 
1819, the most remote western 
outpost of the United States, is 
situated at the confluence of 
the Minnesota and Mississippi 
Rivers, eight miles southeast of Minneapolis by river 
and six miles from St. Paul. It lies in a region of rare 
natural beauty, in the vicinity of the Falls of Minnehaha, 
Bridal Veil Falls, and other points locally notable and 
is, itself, no mean attraction to the many visitors who 
are attracted to the locality every year. The old fort 
standing on its high bluff at the headwaters of America's 
greatest river is a most picturesque object. 

The reservation of Fort Snelling contains 1,531 
acres, though originally this tract was much larger than 
now. The fort structure which one sees from the river 
is an irregularly shaped bastioned wall conforming in 
outline to the high plateau of land upon which it is situ- 
ated. It occupies the extreme end of the point of land 
formed by the juncture of the two rivers, and on the 
Mississippi side the bluff upon which the fort is situated 
descends abruptly to the water, the river there running 
almost in a canyon. On the Minnesota side the slope is 
more gradual and ends in a low marshy flat which ex- 

268 



FORT SNELLING 



tends from one-third to one-half a mile and is frequently 
submerged during high water. The altitude of the post 
plateau above the river is 300 feet. 

The establishment of Fort Snelling was one of the 
fruits of the work of Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, the first 
American to explore and chart the peak which bears his 
name. In 1805 this officer was in command of an explor- 
ing expedition and held a conference with the Sioux 
Indians on an island at the mouth of the Minnesota 
River which now bears his name. He secured from the 
Indians for military purposes a strip of land nine miles 
on each side of the Mississippi River and extending from 
the conference island to the Falls of St. Anthony, near 
which Fort Snelling is. 

It is to be remembered that in 1805 the settlement 
of the American nation did not extend beyond the 
Mississippi River. The country west of Lake Michigan 
and on the headwaters of the Mississippi River, though 
a part of the United States, thanks largely to George 
Rogers Clark, was in a state of nature with only the trails 
of Indians and traders and the remains of little French 
settlements as the foundation for the civilization which 
was to grow up within it. 

The privileges which Lieutenant Pike secured from 
the red men were not immediately taken advantage of 
by the United States authorities. Time passed and the 
War of 1812 with England gave the War Department 

269 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



of this country quite as much as it could take care of. 
Finally, in 1819, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leaven- 
worth, of the Fifth United States Infantry, was sent 
with his regiment to locate a fort upon the reserve se- 
lected by Lieutenant Pike. Colonel Leavenworth 
reached the headwaters of the Mississippi without in- 
cident and rendered his first monthly report in Septem- 
ber, 1819. 

Scurvy broke out now among the troops and this, 
added to the natural inclemencies of the climate here 
in winter, prevented any work being done until the 
spring of 1820. In May, 1820, Colonel Leavenworth 
moved his troops to a point on the west bank of the 
Mississippi River, about a mile and a half above the 
present location of Fort Snelling. The site chosen by 
him for the fort was the present military cemetery. He 
made preparations to commence the work, but Colonel 
Josiah Snelhng assumed command in August and se- 
lected the location where the fort now stands. 

Work actually commenced September 10, 1820, and 
went steadily ahead until October, 1822, when the post 
was first occupied. During this time Colonel Snelling 
was in command and his regiment was engaged in the 
work. 

For two years after it had been finished the post 
was known as Fort St. Anthony — at Colonel Snelling's 
suggestion — after the falls which are near the place, 

270 



FORT SNELLING 



but, in 1824, it was visited by General Scott, who sug- 
gested to the War Department that the name should be 
changed to that which it bears to-day as a compliment 
to its builder. 

The defences and some of the store-houses and shops 
were built of stone, but the quarters for the soldiers 
were log huts until after the Mexican War. The huts 
have now given way to comfortable barracks of modern 
construction, but the stone construction and the shops 
remain to-day as they were when the fort was far dis- 
tant from civilization. 

During the Civil War the fort was a concentration 
point for volunteers. In 1878 a plan of enlargement to 
accommodate a full regiment was entered upon in ac- 
cordance with the policy then inaugurated by the War 
Department of having the soldiers of the country con- 
centrated at a few points rather than scattered through 
a number of small posts. 

While Fort Snelling has never seen active service 
itself it has had an active existence as a distribution 
point for those posts which were in conflict with the 
enemy during the United States' occasional Indian 
Wars. During the serious Sioux outbreak of 1862 in 
Minnesota it was the head-quarters of the campaign 
against the Indians, though the fighting took place from 
subsidiary posts in contact with the red men. 

For twenty years after its completion Fort Snelling 

271. 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



was in the midst of the Sioux with no white neighbors 
except traders, agents of fur companies, refugees from 
civihzation and disreputable hangers-on. In 1837 an 
enlargement of the military reserve and the coming of 
the first tide of white settlers who were to develop this 
country caused the eviction of this last class of depen- 
dents. One of the nearby squatters took his grog-shop 
to a point not far away. Around this point a settlement 
grew up. This settlement is now the proud city of St. 
Paul. 



FORT LARAMIE 

AT THE FORKS OF THE PLATTE RIVER— WYOMING 




NE of the most famous of the western 
Indian forts of the United States 
is situated on the west bank of the 
Laramie River, one and a half 
miles above the junction of that 
stream with the Platte. Though 
deserted the post is still a pictu- 
resque figure, recalling the days when it administered 
authority for seven hundred miles around. The prop- 
erty now comprises part of the ranch of Mr. John 
Hunton. 

Before the white man had established a habitation 
where Fort Laramie stands the whole of the country of 
the North Platte River was a hunting-ground and 
battle-jfield for different tribes of Indians. Countless 
herds of buffalo roamed the land and it was rich in fur- 
bearing animals, as well. 

In 1834 William Sublette and Robert Campbell, 
coming to this part of the country to trap beaver, found 
themselves obliged to construct some sort of protection 
against the roving bands of vagabond Crows and Paw- 
nees which occasionally swept along the Platte, stealing 
where they could. They built in that year upon the 
present site of Fort Laramie a square fort of pickets 
18 feet high, with bastions at two diagonal corners, and 
a number of little houses inside for their employes. In 

18 273 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



1835 they sold out to Milton Sublette, James Bridger 
and three other trappers, who went into partnership with 
the American Fur Company and continued the beaver 
trapping business. 

In that year the American Fur Company sent two 
men named Kiplin and Sabille to the Bear Butte and 
Northern Black Hills to persuade the Sioux Indians 
to come over and hunt their game and live in the vicinity 
of the fort. Their ambassadors succeeded so well that 
they returned with over one hundred lodges of Ogalla 
Sioux under Chief Bull Bear. This was the first ap- 
pearance of the powerful Sioux nation in this part of 
the country, which they speedily overran, driving away 
Pawnees, Cheyennes, Crows and all others from its 
very borders. 

Of course the fort speedily became a trading post 
where the Indians bartered a buffalo robe for a knife, 
an awl, or a drink of " fire water." Anything that the 
company had to trade was at least of the value of one 
buffalo robe. An American horse brought fifty of 
them; any pony was worth twenty or thirty. Any old 
scrap of iron was of great value to an Indian and by 
him would be speedily converted into a knife. Fire- 
arms he had none and his arrow-heads were all made of 
pieces of flint or massive quartz, fashioned into proper 
shape by laborious pecking with another stone. The 
Sioux then had no horses, but herds of wild horses were 
abundant on their arrival and it was not many years 
before they learned their use. 

274 



FORT LARAMIE 



In 1836 the picket fort began to rot badly and the 
American Fur Company rebuilt it of adobe at an ex- 
pense of $10,000. The people who lived inside of the 
fort at this time called it " Fort William," after William 
Sublette, but the name could not be popularized. The 
fort being built on the Laramie River, not far from 
Laramie Peak, the American Fur Company's clerks 
in their city offices labelled it Fort Laramie and by that 
name it was destined to be called. 

It seems that Laramie was a trapper, one of the first 
French voyageurs who ever trapped a beaver or shot a 
buffalo in the Rocky Mountains. He was one day 
killed by a band of Arapahoes on the headwaters of the 
stream which has ever since been called by his name. 

The American Fur Company retained possession of 
the fort until 1849 when it sold it to the United States 
government for four or five thousand dollars. Bruce 
Husaband was the last representative of the company 
who had charge of Fort Laramie. 

The first United States troops which arrived here 
came in July, 1849, under the command of Major 
Sanderson of the Mounted Rifles. They were com- 
panies C and D of that regiment. Company G of the 
Sixth United States Infantry arrived in August of the 
same year under command of Captain Ketchum. In 
the summer and fall of 1849 a large number of additions 
were made to the buildings at the post. 

In 1846, just prior to its occupancy by the United 

275 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



States, Francis Parknian, the future historian, then 
little more than a boy, visited Fort Laramie and wrote 
a description of the place in that singularly vivid style 
which characterized his best work as a historian. His 
description may be abridged: 

Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort 
Laramie and its inmates, they seem less like a reality than like 
some fanciful picture of the olden time; so different was the 
scene from any which this tamer side of the world can present. 
Tall Indians, enveloped in their white buffalo robes, were strid- 
ing across the area or reclining at full length on the low roofs 
of the buildings which enclosed it. Numerous squaws, gayly 
bedizened, sat grouped in front of the rooms they occupied ; their 
mongrel offspring, restless and vociferous, rambled in every 
direction through the fort ; and the trappers, traders, and en- 
gagees of the establishment were busy at their labor or their 
amusements. . . . 

Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the " Ameri- 
can Fur Company " which well nigh monopolizes the Indian 
trade of this region. Here its officials rule with an absolute 
sway; the arm of the United States has little force; for when 
we were there the extreme outposts of her troops were about 
seven hundred miles to the eastward. The little fort is built of 
bricks dried in the sun, and externally is of an oblong form, with 
bastions of clay, in the form of ordinary blockhouses, at two of 
the corners. The walls are about fifteen feet high, and sur- 
mounted by a slender palisade. The roofs of the apartments 
within, which are built close against the walls, serve the purpose 
of a banquette. Within, the fort is divided by a partition : on 

276 



FORT LARAMIE 



one side is the square area, surrounded by the offices, store- 
rooms and apartments of the inmates ; on the other is the corral, 
a narrow place, encompassed by high clay walls, where at night, 
or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses and mules of the 
fort are crowded for safe keeping. The main entrance has two 
gates, with an arched passage intervening. A little square win- 
dow, high above the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining 
chamber into this passage ; so that when the inner gate is closed 
and barred, a person without may still hold communication with 
those within, through this narrow aperture. This obviates the 
necessity of admitting suspicious Indians, for the purposes of 
trading, into the body of the fort; for when danger is appre- 
hended, the inner gate is shut fast and all traffic is carried on by 
means of the window. This precaution, though necessary at 
some of the Company's posts, is seldom resorted to at Fort 
Laramie ; where though men are frequently killed in the neighbor- 
hood no apprehensions are felt of any general design of hostility 
from the Indians. 

A train of emigrants encamped outside the fort for 
the night on their long jom-ney across the plains. 

A crowd of broad-rimmed hats, thin visages, and staring 
eyes appeared suddenly at the gate. Tall, awkward men in 
brown homespim; women, with cadaverous faces and long lank 
figures, came thronging in together, and as if inspired by the 
very demon of curiosity ransacked every nook and corner of the 
fort. The emigrants prosecuted their investigations with untir- 
ing vigor. They penetrated the rooms, or, rather, dens, in- 
habited by the astonished squaws. Resolved to search every 
mystery to the bottom, they explored the apartments of the 

277 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



men, and even that of Marie and the bourgeois (the commandant 
of the fort). At last a numerous deputation appeared at our 
door but found no encouragement to remain. . . . Having at 
length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to business. 

On the 19th of August, 1854, a Mormon train was 
encamped about ten miles below the fort on the Platte 
River. The Indians having killed a cow or ox belong- 
ing to the train had been complained of by the Mormons 
to the commanding officer, who sent Lieutenant Grattan, 
of the Sixth United States Infantry, with thirty men of 
Company G and two howitzers, to recover the cow and 
bring the thieves to the garrison. They met a large 
number of Indians (Sioux) under the leadership of a 
chief named Mattoioway about eight miles from the fort 
and a conflict ensued in which Lieutenant Grattan's com- 
mand, with the exception of one man, was annihilated. 
The survivor was hidden in some bushes by a friendly 
Indian and brought to the fort that night where he died 
two days afterward. The bodies of the slain were buried 
in one grave where they fell and a pile of stones marks 
their resting place. 



THE ALAMO AND FORT SAM 
HOUSTON 



SAN ANTONIO— TEXAS 




HE Alamo, which is famous for its 
heroic defence against the Mexi- 
cans by Travis and his men, is 
situated in San Antonio, Texas, 
and is the point of pilgrimage 
annually for many hundreds of 
the visitors to the southwestern 
part of the United States. On the outskirts of San 
Antonio is the modern great military plant. Fort Sam 
Houston, the Alamo's lusty successor. 

The Alamo, as late as 1870, was used for military 
purposes by the United States government, but of re- 
cent years it has been preserved purely as a monument 
to those brave men who lost their lives in it fighting 
bravely to the last a battle which they knew to be hope- 
less from the first. Upon the front of the building has 
been placed an inscription which reads, " Thermopylae 
had its messenger of defeat. The Alamo had none." 
The building, itself, is a low structure of the familiar 
Spanish mission type, and its main walls, though con- 
structed in 1744, are almost as solid to-day as when new. 
The chapel of the Alamo bears the date 1757, but this 
was of later building than the rest of the place. 

The city of San Antonio owes its foundation to the 
establishment in 1715 by Spain of the mission of San 
Antonio de Valero, which in accordance with the custom 

279 



QUAIxNT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



of that country combined priestly enterprise with mili- 
tary prerogative. The Alamo was a quadrangular, 
central court structure built to house the troops of Spain 
and to sound the call to worship. It was acquired by 
Mexico with the rest of the Spanish possessions when 
this southern neighbor of the United States, in 1824, 
finally secured its independence from the parent country. 

At the time of the siege, San Antonio was a town of 
about 7,000 inhabitants, the vast majority Mexican. 
The San Antonio river which, properly speaking, is a 
large rivulet, divided the town from the Alamo, the 
former on the west side and the latter on the east. 
South of the fort was the Alamo village, a small suburb 
of San Antonio. 

The fort itself was in the condition in which it had 
been left by Cos, the Mexican general, when it had been 
surrendered in the fall of 1835. It contained twelve 
guns which were of little use in the hands of men un- 
skilled in their use, and owing to the construction of the 
works most of the guns had little width of range. 

In command of the place at the beginning of the 
winter of 1835 was Colonel Neill, of Texas, with two 
companies of volunteers, among whom was a remnant 
of the New Orleans Greys. Early in 1836 Lieutenant 
Colonel William B. Travis, a brave and careful officer, 
was appointed by the Governor of Texas, which had as 
yet only a provisional government, to relieve Colonel 
Neill of his command. 

280 



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H 
W 



a- 


C 


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THE ALAMO 



The volunteers, a hard-headed and independent lot, 
wished to choose their own leader though they were will- 
ing to have Travis second in command, and called a 
meeting, where they elected as full colonel one of their 
number, James Bowie, a forceful figure of early Texan 
history. Bowie's name to-day unfortunately is chiefly 
remembered by virtue of the " Bowie " knife. Travis 
arrived at the fort early in February, just two weeks 
before the Mexicans under the detested Santa Ana came 
in view, and naturally enough refused to recognize the 
superior authority of the officer so informally placed in 
power, as did the men whom he had brought with him. 
There was thus divided authority in the Alamo at the 
time of the siege. 

All disputes were dropped, however, upon the ap- 
proach of the enemy. The advance detachment of the 
Mexican force which came in four divisions arrived in 
San Antonio on February 22, and was welcomed by an 
eighteen-pound shot from the little American garrison. 
Santa Ana procured a parley and demanded the sur- 
render of the entire garrison, the terms to be left to his 
discretion. 

A dramatic scene took place in the Alamo, tradition 
tells us, when news of this proposal came to the ill- 
starred place. Colonel Travis drew a line upon the 
ground. " All those who prefer to fight will cross this 
line," he is reported to have said. Every man crossed 
the line and Bowie, who had been stricken to his bed 

281 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



with pneumonia, roused enough to ask that his cot be 
carried with his men. It was well understood that the 
issue of the fray, if once Santa Ana succeeded in taking 
the post, would be the death of every man without 
mercy; and the chances of withstanding an attack were 
known to be weak. 

When finally the Mexican host was assembled it 
numbered about twenty-five hundred men. The Ameri- 
can garrison, which was swelled by a reinforcement of 
32 men from Gonzales who managed to get through the 
lines of the besiegers into the fort, numbered altogether 
188 men. The siege commenced on the 24th of Feb- 
ruary and continued without cessation until the morn- 
ing of the 6th of March, when there was a grand assault. 

The final assault occupied not more than half an 
hour. The blast of a bugle was followed by the shuffle 
of a rushing mass of men. The guns of the fort opened 
upon the charging columns which came from all direc- 
tions. The outer walls were taken despite the efforts 
of the pitiful handful of their defenders, and the battle 
then became a series of desperate fights from room to 
room of the old structure. Travis fell with a single shot 
through his forehead and his gun was turned on the 
building. Bowie was found on his cot in his room at the 
point of death from the malady which had stricken him ; 
with his last flicker of strength he shot down with his 
pistols more than one of his assailants before he was 
butchered where he lay, too weak to move his body. 

The chapel was the last point taken and the inmates 

282 



THE ALAMO 



of this stronghold fought with unremitting fury, firing 
down from the upper part of the structure after the 
enemy had taken the floor. Toward the close of this 
episode Lieutenant Dickenson, with his child strapped 
to his back, leaped from the east embrasure. Both were 
shot in the act. 

One of the garrison was Davy Crockett, a well- 
known and beloved backwoodsman, known for his 
quaint sayings and homely wisdom. Crockett was 
found beside a gun in the west battery with a pile of 
slain around him. 

The number of Mexicans killed has never been cor- 
rectly estimated though it has been placed as high as a 
thousand. The most accurate estimate lies probably be- 
tween 500 and 600. 

A few hours after the engagement the bodies of the 
slaughtered garrison were gathered by the victors, laid 
in three heaps and burned. On February 25, 1837, the 
bones and ashes were collected by order of General Sam 
Houston, as well as could be done, and buried with mili- 
tary honors in a peach orchard then outside Alamo vil- 
lage and a few hundred yards from the fort. The place 
of burial was not preserved and the groimd which con- 
tains the remains of these heroic men has long since been 
built over. 

During the Mexican War the walls of the Alamo 
buildings were repaired and the buildings newly roofed 
for the use of the quartermaster's department. 

Fort Sam Houston, the modern successor of the 

283 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ancient Alamo, was first located on Houston Street 
where one of San Antonio's great new hotels now stands. 
Its present ideal situation on a high plateau 762 feet 
above the level of the Gulf of Mexico was chosen in 1872 
and the grounds first comprised 162 acres of land. The 
fort was built around a quadrangle 624 feet square, in 
the centre of which was erected a gray stone tower 88 
feet in height. Of recent years large accessions of land 
have made the post over one thousand acres in extent 
and the buildings have been largely added to, over two 
and a half millions of dollars being expended upon the 
fort by the national government. It is now one of the 
most important of the United States' military posses- 
sions. During the Spanish-American war the place 
acquired celebrity as being the scene of organization and 
training of the Rough Riders. 

Immediately before the outbreak of the Civil War 
the Alamo was commanded by that soldier who was to 
lead the armies of the Lost Cause and whose name is a 
household heritage in the south to-day, Robert E. Lee. 
Associated with him here was Albert Sydney Johnston. 
The house occupied by General Lee was situated on 
South Alamo street and here he wrote his resignation to 
the United States authorities before assuming command 
of the enthusiastic and untrained masses of South- 
erners. 

During the Civil War San Antonio was the head- 
quarters of the Confederacy in the southwest and the 
Alamo was used for storage. 



,11 




OTHER WESTERN FORTS 

FORT PHIL KEARNEY, NEBRASKA; FORT LEAVENWORTH, 
KANSAS; FORT FETTERMAN, WYOMING; FORT BRIDGER, 
WYOMING; FORT KEOGH. MONTANA; FORT DOUGLAS, UTAH 



NE of the most dreadful Indian fights 
in the history of the Middle West 
is associated with Fort Phil 
Kearney, on the Platte River, 
Nebraska, which was in 1848, at 
the time of its establisliment, the 
only United States post between 
Port Leavenworth, Kansas, 350 miles distant, and Fort 
Laramie, 420 miles to the west. It stood midway be- 
tween the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains 
on the California Overland route and was established 
for the protection of west-bound emigrant trains from 
hostile Indians. 

Fort Phil Kearney was a storm centre during the 
Sioux War, which began in 1863 and continued inter- 
mittently for nearly ten years, and the " Kearney Mas- 
sacre " occurred during this time. On the morning of 
December 21, 1866, the fort received word that the wood 
train was being attacked by Indians and was in need of 
assistance. Immediately Brevet Lieutenant Colonel W. 
I. Fetterman with seventy-six men was ordered to pro- 
tect the train. 

Colonel Fetterman moved rapidly upon his errand, 
and the sound of heavy firing soon showed that he was in 
contact with the enemy. The fii'ing continued so long 
that the commandant. Colonel Carrington, became 

285 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



alarmed for the safety of the detachment and sent out 
as many men as he could spare for reinforcement. 
These men were under Captain Ten Eyck. The rest of 
the story may be taken up in the words of Senate Docu- 
ment 13, 1867: 

Colonel Ten Eyck reported as soon as he reached the 
summit commanding a view of the battle-field that the valley 
was full of Indians ; that he could see nothing of Colonel Fetter- 
man's party, and requested that a howitzer should be sent him. 
The howitzer was not sent. 

The Indians who at first beckoned him to come down now 
commenced retreating and Captain Ten Eyck, advancing to a 
point where the Indians had been standing in a circle, found 
the dead, naked bodies of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Fetterman, 
Captain Brown and about sixty-five of the soldiers of their 
command. ... At about half the distance from where these 
bodies lay to the point where the road commences to descend 
to Peno Creek was the dead body of Lieutenant Grummond, and 
still farther on, at the point where the road commences to de- 
scend to Peno Creek, were the dead bodies of three citizens and 
four or five of the old, long-tried and experienced soldiers. 

Our conclusion, therefore, is that the Indians were massed 
on both sides of the road ; that the Indians attacked vigorously 
in force from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred warriors and 
were successfully resisted for half an hour or more; that the 
command then being short of ammunition and seized with panic 
at this event, and the great numerical superiority of the Indians, 
attempted to retreat toward the fort; that the mountaineers 
and old soldiers who had learned that movement from the 

286 



OTHER WESTERN FORTS 



Indians in an engagement was equivalent to death remained in 
their first position and were killed there ; that, immediately upon 
the commencement of the retreat, the Indians charged upon 
and surrounded the party who could not now be formed by 
their officers and the party was immediately killed. 

Only six of the whole command were killed by balls and two 
of these, Lieutenant Colonel Fetterman and Captain Brown, no 
doubt inflicted this death upon themselves, or each other, by 
their own hands for both were shot through the left temple and 
powder was burnt into the skin and flesh about the wound. 
These officers had also oftentimes asserted that they would not 
be taken alive by the Indians. 

In its appearance Fort Kearney was typical of the 
Indian forts of the period, being httle more than a 
stockade on the level prairie with the necessary houses 
inside. The parade ground occupied four acres and 
was flanked by a few straggly cottonwood trees. The 
post was deserted not long after the building of the 
Union Pacific railroad six miles away, which destroyed 
the reason of its being; after its desertion fell victim to 
its ancient enemy, for it was burned by the Indians. 

Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, near Kansas City, 
Kansas, whose name occurs so often in the records of 
Indian warfare of the West, was established May, 1827, 
by Colonel Henry Leavenworth, commanding a de- 
tachment of the Third United States Infantry. At first 
the post was extremely unhealthy, a large part of the 
command being prostrated by malarial fever. It was 

287 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



evacuated in 1829 and reoccupied in 1830, then, and for 
several years, being known as Cantonment Leaven- 
worth. Since the latter date the place has never been 
without United States troops and it is to-day the largest 
fixed post in the United States military service. 

The first mission of Fort Leavenworth was to pro- 
tect the emigrant trains which set out from St. Louis, 
several hundred miles to the east, and passed this point 
on the way to Cahfornia, or Oregon, by the famous old 
Santa Fe Trail, the California Overland Trail or the 
Oregon^rail, each of which went by this place. As the 
years went on the fort became more and more a base of 
supply for the army posts established further west. Its 
central location, which made it ideal as a distributing 
point to any part of the West, is the factor which is at 
the base of its importance in the present day. 

Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, was established in July, 
1867, and named in honor of the officer who lost his life 
commanding the detachment destroyed by the Indians 
at Fort Kearney. In the following month the Indians 
of the vicinity were actively hostile. The old post was a 
most picturesque point in its day, being situated on a 
high bluff which shows its pointed palisade in fine relief 
against the sky. It is now deserted. 

Fort Bridger, Wyoming, another of the Indian posts 
of the past, was one of the most important points on the 
Great Salt Lake Trail. It was located on the Black 
Fork of the Green River and was established in June, 

288 



OTHER WESTERN FORTS 



1858. The immediate locality had long been known as 
Bridger's Fort because of the situation here of a trading 
post of James Bridger, one of the most noted trappers 
and guides of this section. In its establishment it was 
intended to be a base of supplies for the army of General 
Albert Sydney Johnston moving against the Mormons 
in Salt Lake Valley in 1857 to 1858. That winter the 
entire command encamped in the valley just above the 
site of Fort Bridger and upon its removal the permanent 
post was located. 

Fort Keogh, Montana, one of the still existing Indian 
posts, was established, in 1876, on the right bank of the 
Yellowstone River, two miles above the mouth of the 
Tongue River, Custer County, on a high elevation above 
the river bottom, by General Terry during a campaign 
against the Sioux. It was named in honor of Captain 
Miles Keogh, killed in the battle of the Little Big 
Horn, popularly known as Custer's Massacre, June 25, 
1876. The area of the post reservation is 90 square miles. 
In appearance Fort Keogh is typical of the other forts 
of its class. 

Fort Douglas, Utah, is at the base of the plateau of 
the Wahsatch Mountains and is part of the suburbs 
of Salt Lake City. The reservation contains two square 
miles of territory, and the scenery from any part thereof 
is extremely fine. The post was established October, 
1862, by Colonel P. E. Connor, of the Third Regiment 
of California Infantry. 

19 



) 



A 



FORT VANCOUVER 

COLUMBIA RIVER— WASHINGTON 




O delve into the history of Fort 
Vancouver, or Vancouver Bar- 
racks as it is known to-day, is to 
recall that time when the far 
northwest of the United States 
was in the making, when there 
was no definite boundary be- 
tween England, Spain, Russia and the American nation 
in this part of the American continent and when all of 
these great nations, with the addition of France and 
little Portugal, to boot, were claimants to the Columbia 
River and the wildernesses which it held tributary. 

The first white men to descry the mouth of the 
Columbia from the sea were, no doubt, the Spaniards, 
for Heceta, in 1775, and Bodega and Arteaga in the 
same year and, again, in 1779, made brief excursions 
into the river. In 1792 Captain Robert Gray, of Bos- 
ton, with the good ship " Columbia," ascended the stream 
for twenty-five miles and claimed possession of it for the 
United States. He named the river for his vessel. 
Several months after Gray had been on the stream the 
English nation, as represented by Captain Cook's lieu- 
tenant, ascended the stream for over a hundred miles, 
making careful record of his trip. The three great 
nations Spain, England, and the United States had 
each valid claims. Portugal, Russia and France were 

290 



FORT VANCOUVER 



early eliminated from the struggle for possession which 
was thereupon fought determinedly by the first three 
countries. 

In 1819 by the Florida treaty with Spain that coun- 
try ceded to the United States all of her claims north of 
the 42nd degree of latitude and so, here, Spain grace- 
fully stepped out of the ring. 

The close of the War of 1812 with Great Britain 
saw that power in possession of the disputed country, 
but the Treaty of Ghent, 1815, provided that each na- 
tion should restore what it had taken from the other by 
force. Thereupon the United States resumed posses- 
sion of the fort at the mouth of the Columbia which it 
had formerly maintained. In 1818 was signed the Joint 
Occupation Treaty between the two countries, by which 
it was provided that the northwest coast of America 
should be open to citizens of both powers for the period 
of ten years. Finally, in 1846, was signed the agree- 
ment between Great Britain and the United States by 
which the northern boundary of the Northwest was 
fixed at the line of 49 degrees, where it rests to-day. 
The United States received about 750 miles of the river 
and England about 650 miles. While there was much 
diplomatic jockeying and juggling and while the two 
nations came periously close to a resort to arms, the ques- 
tion, on the whole, was settled with great amicableness and 
the decision once arrived at was accepted with entire 
good nature by each party to the contract. 

291 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



Now let us ask why was it that the Northwest of 
those days was considered so great a prize that six of 
the World Powers should contend for its possession? 
The domain, though a princely one, was not a necessity 
to a young nation — our own — which had illimitable 
leagues of arable soil still untilled. It was remote from 
all of the powers of Europe. The answer to our ques- 
tion is to be found in the one word, furs. The North- 
west was a treasure house through virtue of the fur- 
bearing animals which it contained. 

As early as 1806 a trading station was established 
in the valley of the Columbia River by The Northwest 
Fur Company, an English corporation. In 1810 the 
Pacific Fur Company, which was to found the fortunes 
of John Jacob Astor, was organized by that gentleman 
in New York and, in 1811, the first of Astor's ships 
arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River to erect the 
trading post of Astoria, whose fortunes have been so en- 
tertainingly told by Washington Irving in the book of 
that name. The Hudson Bay Company had also made 
entrance to this rich field. 

During the War of 1812 the Pacific Fur Company 
retired from its positions in the Columbia valley and the 
Hudson Bay Company absorbed its English rival, the 
Northwest Fur Company. The English built a strong 
fort at Astoria which they called Fort George. But 
several years after the conclusion of the war between 
England and America, the Pacific Fur Company re- 

292 



FORT VANCOUVER 



sumed possession of its posts in the Columbia, with the 
backing of the United States government, under the 
authority of the Treaty of Ghent and the Hudson Bay 
Company, and though events proved that it could main- 
tain an amicable joint household with Astor's corpora- 
tion at Astoria, began to look about for a site for head- 
quarters of its own. Since the Columbia River at that 
time seemed destined to become the dividing line be- 
tween English and American possessions, a site was 
chosen on the north side of the river, about 120 miles 
above its mouth. Here a strong post was established 
in 1825 and named Vancouver, in honor of the British 
mariner. The site was not deemed as suitable for the 
purposes of a fort as a situation a short distance away, 
so a second Fort Vancouver was built on the last chosen 
spot. This is the Fort Vancouver of the present day, 
and the site of the city of Vancouver, Washington. 

The new post was made the Pacific head-quarters 
for the Hudson Bay Company and became a great mart 
of trade from California to Alaska and for innumerable 
little stations in the Rocky mountains and the hinter- 
land thereof. The fort, itself, was an imposing structure 
with a picket wall twenty feet high, buttressed with 
massive timbers inside. It enclosed a parallelogram five 
hundred feet by seven hundred feet and contained forty 
buildings, including a governor's residence of generous 
proportions. The lands outside of the fort proper were 
cultivated and were exceedingly productive. The em- 

293 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



ployees of the company were comfortably housed and 
formed a happy community, and to the point came red 
men in various garbs, hunters, trappers and woodsmen, 
a picturesque throng in craft of all description. 

This is a sketch of the post in 1846, the year in which, 
through the treaty between England and America, it 
became a possession of the United States. In 1849 a 
company of United States Artillery, under Captain J. 
H. Hathaway, took possession of the place in the name 
of the republic and the stars and stripes waved where 
the lion of St. George had held the breeze. It is an in- 
teresting commentary of the times to remember that to 
reach their destination Captain Hathaway and his sol- 
diers were obliged to sail around Cape Horn in a sailing 
vessel, the voyage consuming many months. In the 
Spring of 1850 a company of mounted riflers arrived at 
the post overland from Fort Leavenworth. 

An additional interest is given Fort Vancouver by 
knowing that at various periods prior to the Civil War 
Grant, Sheridan, JNIcClellan, Hooker, and other of the 
famous United States leaders of the Civil War were 
stationed here. It was in a campaign against the 
Indians not far distant from Fort Vancouver that Gen- 
eral Sheridan fought his first battle. 



%'' 



FORT YUMA 

AT HEAD OF NAVIGATION, COLORADO RIVER— CALIFORNIA 




HE comedian of Uncle Sam's 
military posts is old Fort Yuma 
on the Colorado River at the 
southwestern extremity of Cali- 
fornia. To mention the name in 
a barrack-room where there are 
seasoned soldiers is to call forth 
a reminiscent smile and the old story of the hen that 
laid hard-boiled eggs. These and that other one of the 
officers, who when they die at Fort Ymna and appear 
before his Satanic Majesty (by some strange miscar- 
riage of justice) shiver with cold and send back to the 
fort for their blankets. 

Other posts in Uncle Sam's itinerary are hot, but 
Fort Yuma spends all of its time in heating up with a 
passion for its work and an unrelenting attention to 
detail that have become legendary. During the months 
of April, May, and June no rainfall comes, and the 
average temperature is 105° in the shade. Of course 
the post does much better on some occasions, and at 
other times it falls below this batting average. 

The most active days of Fort Yuma as a military 
post were found just before and for a few years subse- 
quent to the Civil War, though that great conflict had 
no part in Yuma's past. During the days that Cali- 
fornia was having its mind made up for it to become a 

295 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



part of the United States, and during the days in which 
it was beginning the great experiment indicated, Yuma 
was of much importance as a base for United States 
troops. In addition to this it exercised and has always 
exercised a restraining influence upon those restless 
spirits of the desert, the Apache Indians. Being situ- 
ated on the border between the United States and 
Mexico, it has some little to do in seeing that the cus- 
toms regulations of this country are preserved. And it 
has always secured importance from being one of the 
stations on the old Santa Fe trail. 

After receiving the Gila at a point 100 miles from 
its mouth, the Colorado River turns suddenly westward 
and forces its way through a rocky defile, 70 feet high 
and 350 yards long and 200 yards wide, thus cutting 
off a narrow rocky bluff and leaving it as an isolated 
eminence on the California side of the river. Here 
stands Fort Yuma, grey and sombre above the green 
bottom lands of the river, which are covered with a dense 
growth of Cottonwood and mesquite. Chains of low 
serrated hills and mountains limit the view on nearly 
every side — all bare and grey save when painted by the 
sun with delicate hues of blue and purple. 

Before reaching the fort the traveller passes through 
a long road shaded by young cottonwoods and mesquite 
interspersed with an impenetrable growth of arrow-bush 
and cane. Then he comes to a bend of the river where 
the water loses the ruddy tint which gives it its musical 

296 



FORT YUMA 



name of " Colorado " and, finally, he brings up at the 
fortification, which in the distance appeared heavy and 
forbidding but which near at hand resolves itself into a 
collection of substantial adobe houses inclosed by deep 
verandas with Venetian blinds which shut out every 
direct ray of sunlight. 

All the buildings at the post are of sun-dried brick 
and neatly plastered within and without. They are one 
story in height, have large rooms with lofty ceilings 
and facilities for the freest ventilation. The roof and 
walls are double, inclosing an air chamber. Each house 
is surrounded by a veranda and adjacent houses have 
their verandas in communication, so that the occupants 
may pass from one to another without exposing them- 
selves to the heat of the sun. 

What entitles the post to the name of fort are certain 
unpretentious intrenchments scattered along the slopes 
of the bluff overlooking the river and commanding the 
bottom lands adjacent. They are not visible from the 
river and the visitor is not aware of their existence until 
he steps to the edge of the bluff and looks down upon 
them. The parade is a stony lawn. Not a blade of 
grass is to be seen and everything is of that ashy light- 
grey color so trying to the eyes. It is a relief to gaze 
out upon the green bottom lands through which one 
passed before ascending to the top of the eminence 
where stands the fort. 

Being so excessively dry the air at this post plays 

297 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



strange pranks with articles made for use in less arid 
climates, as many a young officer's wife has found to 
her cost when bringing trunks and other household para- 
phernalia to her new home. Furniture put together in 
the North and brought here falls to pieces; travelling 
chests gape at their seams, and a sole-leather trunk con- 
tracts so much that the tray must be pried out by force. 

Ink dries so rapidly upon the pen that it requires 
washing off every few minutes and a No. 2 pencil leaves 
no more trace upon a piece of paper than a piece of 
anthracite coal would leave. To use a pencil it is neces- 
sary to have it kept immersed in water before calling 
upon it for service. Newspapers require to be unfolded 
with care, for if handled roughly thej'^ crumble. Boxes 
of soap that weigh twelve pounds when shipped to Fort 
Yuma weigh only ten pounds after having been there 
for several weeks. Hams lose 12 per cent, in weight 
and rice 2 per cent. Eggs lose their watery contents 
by evaporation and become thick and tough. The effort 
to cool one's self with an ordinary fan is vain, because 
the surrounding atmosphere is of higher temperature 
than the body. The earth under foot is dry and powdery 
and hot as flour just ground, while the rocks are so 
hot that the hands cannot be borne upon them. 

" The story of the dog that ran across the parade 
at mid-day on three legs barking at everj^ step may be 
correct," writes an officer who was stationed there, 
" though I have never seen it tried." 



VALLEY FORGE-YORKTOWN— 
VICKSBURG— LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN 
—GETTYSBURG— THE ^XRATER'^ 




N the nature of the case field forti- 
fications are temporary erections, 
earthworks thrown up for an im- 
mediate emergency; but, occasion- 
ally some bright deed or some 
momentous consequence gives these 
defences a fame more enduring 
than walls of stone planned with deliberation and exe- 
cuted with leisured care. 

Who has not heard of Valley Forge and the heroic 
winter of 1777-1778 which Washington spent there 
with his meagrely clad men? Valley Forge is now a 
public reservation about twelve miles north of Phila- 
delphia, on the Schuylkill River. Excursion trains 
run out from that city to the park, so it is easy of 
access. The grounds cover hundreds of acres, but the 
principal points are plainly marked and may be quickly 
reached. 

One of the most interesting souvenirs of Washing- 
ton's immortal encampment at Valley Forge is the little 
stone house which the great commander used as his 
headquarters. An unpretentious, substantial structure 
of the typical style of building of the days in which it 
was constructed, it is in excellent preservation, strong 

299 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



/ 



and sturdy as on the day of its erection. The building 
contains numerous Washington relics and curios col- 
lected by the State authorities or presented to the park 
by men and women of various parts of the nation. 

One of the most conspicuous objects of the reserva- 
tion is the Memorial Arch erected by the United States 
government to the memory of the men and officers who 
shared the privations of that terrible winter at this spot. 
It is of Roman character and stands on a commanding 
eminence in the central part of the grounds. Near at 
hand is planned the Washington Memorial Chapel, 
which the Future may complete, or leave unbuilt, as it 
sees fit. 

Fort Washington, a small redoubt or earth, is not 
far from the Arch and has been carefully preserved 
against the encroachments of Time. The lines of the 
earthworks may also be made out. 

A historic site is Yorktown, Virginia, the sleepy 
little village on the peninsula between the James and 
York rivers Cornwallis surrendered to Washington and 
the French allies in 1781, thus making sure of American 
Independence, and where the Army of the Potomac en- 
camped under INIcClellan in 1862, throwing up massive 
earthworks. The traces of both Cornwallis' and ]McClel- 
lan's encampments are easily to be made out to-day. ^ 

The American and French forces marched from 
Williamsburg, September 28, 1781, driving in the 

300 




National Memorial Arch 




Washinj,'t oil's Hfadquarters 
SCENES AT VALLEY FORGE 



VICKSBURG 



British outposts at Yorktown as they approached and 
taking possession of the abandoned outworks. Form- 
ing a semicircular hne about two miles from the British 
intrenchments they completely invested the enemy, the 
York River enclosing his forces to the northeast. Octo- 
ber 17, Cornwallis offered to discuss terms of surrender. 

The beginning of the year 1863 — to make a jump 
from the Revolution to the Civil War — saw the turning 
of the tide for the United States, and it was in this 
year that the decisive battles of Vicksburg, Gettysburg 
and Chattanooga were fought. The battle-grounds of 
each of these engagements have been created national 
parks and are maintained in such a fashion that the 
visitor may follow the movements of the troops in those 
great clashes. 

After the capture of the posts north of Vicksburg, 
on the Mississippi, and the opening of the mouth of the 
river by Farragut's taking of New Orleans in 1862, 
Vicksburg was the only remaining defence of the Con- 
federacy on the Mississpipi, and the sole remaining link 
between the Confederacy's east and west portions. The 
principal works of the city were on a commanding emi- 
nence, giving a clear sweep of the river and the sur- 
rounding country, which was swampy and almost im- 
passable. They were competently manned, capably offi- 
cered and well supplied. 

The place, altogether, was deemed almost impreg- 

301 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



nable. To follow out all of the steps by which its re- 
duction was brought about is not the province of this 
chapter. The United States troops under the compara- 
tively unknown commander, U. S. Grant, began to 
operate at the end of January, 1863, and on July 4 
concluded their task in the unconditional surrender of 
the main fortification of the Confederates. The sur- 
render of Vicksburg came one day after the conclusion 
of the battle of Gettysburg which occupied the first 
three days of July. 
/ The reservation of the Vicksburg National Park 
contains 1,255.07 acres and was acquired pm'suant to an 
Act of Congress approved February 21, 1899. 

The grounds of the Gettysburg National Park, 
Adams County, Pennsylvania, comprise 2,054 acres 
and their acquisition was commenced in 1873. The 
scenes of the principal movements of the battle have 
been marked with suitable monuments. The battle of 
Gettysburg proved conclusively that the South could 
not invade the North. It was the last gallant attempt 
of a completely invested country to strike a fatal blow 
before the strangle-hold of its enemy should bring the 
end. 

The largest of the national military parks is Chicka- 
mauga and Chattanooga National Park, which comprises 
5,688 acres in the State of Georgia, in addition to nearly 
150 acres in the State of Tennessee, the park being 

302 




The Slaughter Hollow 




The Entrance to the Tunnel 
TWO VIEWS TO-DAY OF THE "CRATER," PETERSBURG, VA. 



k 



THE "CRATER" 



situated on the line between the States. In Tennessee 
is located Lookout Mountain. The acquisition of this 
reservation began under the provisions of an Act of 
Congress approved August 19, 1890. 

On the outskirts of Petersburg, Virginia, the re- 
mains of Forts Haskell and Steadman, the scene of the 
" Crater " episode, and part of the defences of the 
capital of the Confederacy which fell before Grant in 
1865, have been preserved as a private enterprise. For 
a small consideration the " Crater " and the earthworks 
will be shown to the visitor. The Federal forces op- 
posed to Fort Steadman — at the suggestion of a miner 
from Chambersburg, Pa., it is said — constructed a long 
tunnel from their lines to beneath the Confederate 
stronghold. An enormous quantity of powder was 
here, and when it was set off a body of soldiers was to 
charge through the breach and take the Confederate 
positions. 

The powder was exploded and the plan was success- 
ful in so far that it blew several hundred men into 
eternity, but when the attacking column reached the 
cavity in the ground its men became confused, giving 
the Confederates time to reform and to pour in a ter- 
rible fire upon the Union men concentrated in the broken 
ground below. The result was terrible carnage of 
United States troops. The " Crater " had become a 
death trap. Nearly three thousand men were killed in 

303 



QUAINT AND HISTORIC FORTS 



it in thirty minutes, the most disastrous loss the Federal 
forces suffered in so short a time during the war. 

The " Crater " to-day is a peaceful spot glorified by 
tall trees which keep the scene in continual gloom. The 
depression in the ground is ten feet or more in depth 
and about two hundred feet in diameter. A short walk 
brings one to the entrance to the tunnel where the lines 
of the United States were stretched. 



f 



INDEX 



Adams, Fort, Newport, R. I., 
222-231 

Alamo, Texas, 279-284 

Allen, Ethan, 63, 70 

Amsterdam, Fort, 37 

Andre, Major, 156 

Andros, Edmund, Royal Gov- 
ernor of Mass., 29, 107 

Annapolis Royal, 2, 84-92 

Arnold, Benedict, 64, 82; his 
treason, 154 et seq.; 169, 171, 
238 

Atares Castle, Havana, 206 

Baltimore, Fort at, 180-189 

Battery, The, New York City, 
46 

Belfast, Me., 99 

Belle Rive, Louis St. Ange de, 
Commanding Chartres, 12 ; 
stationed at Vincennes, 14; 
surrenders Chartres to Eng- 
lish, 14 

Boston, Fort at, 25-35 

Boston Tea Party, 31 

Bourbon, Fort, on the Missis- 
sippi, 263 

Bowie, James, inventor of Bowie 
knife, 281 

Braddock, 18; his march and 
death, 19, 53, 127 

Bradford, Wm., 106 

Brownsville, Pa., 21 

Burgoyne, General, 64 

Burnet, Governor of New York, 
122, 123, 124 

Cadillac, La Moote, 132 

Caen, Emery de, 75 

Canseau, Nova Scotia, expedi- 
tion against, 2; fleet arrives 
at, 7 



Castine, Baron Vincent de, 103, 
104 

Castle Garden, New York City , 
46 

Castle St. Louis, Quebec, 72, 77, 
82 

Castle WilHam, Boston, 25, 35 

Castle Williams, New York 
Harbor, 46 

Champlain, Memorial Light 
House, 67 

Champlain, Samuel, 49, 50, 51, 
52, 60, 72, 73; dies at Quebec, 
76 

Charles, Fort, Me., 107 

Charleston, South Carolina, 
Fort at, 241-250 

Chartres, Fort, site selected, 11; 
disastrous expedition leaves, 
12; second fort built, 12; sur- 
renders to English, 14 

Chebucto Bay, 93, 94, 97 

Chicago, Illinois, 21; Historical 
Society, 23 

Cincinnati, Ohio, 24 

Citadel of Halifax, 93-97 

Citadel of Quebec, 72-83 

Clark, Fort, Illinois, 24 

Clark, George Rogers, 23, 24, 
144, 145 

Clinton, Fort, New York City, 
46 

Clinton, Fort, New York, 148, 
149 

Columbus, Fort, New York, 
36-48 

Constitution, Fort, New Hamp- 
shire, 161-166 

Constitution, Fort, New York, 
150 



305 



INDEX 



Cornbury, Governor of New Falls of Minnehaha, 268 

Amsterdam, 41 Federal Hill Fort, Baltimore, 

Covington, Fort, 187 188, 189 

"Crater,"The, near Petersburg, Fetterman, Wyoming, 288 et 
Virginia, 303 seq. 

Crevecoeur, Fort, 15 Franklin, Pa., 21 

Crockett, Davy, falls at Alamo, Frederick, Fort, Maine, 105-112 



283 
Crown Point, 53, 66-71 

Damariscotta, 3 

Davenport, Captain Richard, 28 

Davis, Jeff, cell at Fort Monroe, 

235 
Dearborn, Fort, 21, 22, 23 
Dearborn, General, Secretary of 

War, 35 
Defiance, Mount, 64 
De Soto, 142, 201 
Diamond, Fort, 45 
Dieskau, 54, 55, 56, 69 
Donop, Count, 177 
Dorchester, Mass., 32 
Douglas, Fort, Utah, 289 et seq. 
Drake, Sir Francis, menaces 

Havana, 203 
Duchambon, successor to Du- 

quesnel, 8 
Dufferin Terrace, Quebec, 72, 83 
Dummer, William, Governor of 

Mass., 29 
Dumplings, Fort, near Ne\\T3ort, 

R. I., 231 
Duquesne, Fort, erected, 18; 

falls to England, 19 
Duquesne, Governor General of 

Canada, 18 
Duquesnel, Commandant of 

Louisburg, 2 



Frenchman's Bay, Me., 

Frontenac, in command at Que- 
bec, 77, 78, 79, 110 

Frontenac, Fort (Kingston, 
Canada), 114, 127 

Gage, Fort, 23, 24 

George, Fort, at mouth of Col- 
umbia River, Ore., 292 

George, Fort, Me., 98-104 

George, Fort, New York City, 
37 

Gettysburg, 302 

Governor's Island, New York 
Harbor, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44- 
48 

Griswold, Fort, Conn., 167-172 

Hamilton, Fort, New York, 45 
Havana, Cuba, Forts at, 201- 

206 
Heald, Captain Nathan, 22, 23 
Heights of Quebec, 72-83 
Hennepin, Friar Louis, and his 

map, 114 
Holmes, Major, 140 
Holmes, Fort, Michigan, 131- 

140 
Howe, Sir William, 59 

Independence, Fort, Boston, 

25-35, 148 
Irving, Washington, 36 



Edward, Fort, New York, 57 
Erie, Pa., 20 



Jackson, Fort, Louisiana, 263- 
267 



306 



INDEX 



Jay, Fort, New York, 36-48 
Johnson, William, of New York, 
53, 54, 55, 56, 69, 104, 117, 
119 
Johnston, General Albert Sid- 
ney, 284 

Kaskaskia, Illinois, 143 
Keogh, Fort, Montana, 289 
Key, Francis Scott, 180, 187 
Kirke, Admiral Sir David, at- 
tacks Quebec, 74 
Kosciuszko, 151 

Lafayette, Fort, 45 

La Fuerza, Cuba, 201-206 

Laramie, Fort, Wyoming, 273- 
278 

Larrabee, Captain Lieutenant 
John, 30 

La Salle, Robert Cavelier, 114, 
131 

Laurel Moat, Havana, 206 

Leavenworth, Fort, Kansas, 287 
et seq. 

Le Boeuf, Fort, 20, 21 

Lee, Robert E., 181; resigns 
from U. S. Army, 284 

Lescarbot, Marc, 86 

Louisburg, Nova Scotia, im- 
portance of, 1; incentives to 
attack, 2; preparations 
against, 4; a novel plan, 5; 
expedition sails, 6; strongest 
outlying work, 8; siege pro- 
gresses, 10; restored to France, 
10 

Louis de la Mobile, Fort, Ala- 
bama, 257 

McHenry, Fort, Maryland, 180- 

189 
McHenry, James, Secretary of 

War, 184 



McKenzie, Sir William's ex- 
periment in Nova Scotia, 88, 
89 
M'Lean, Colonel Francis, 100 
Mackinac Island, State park 

commission, 140 
Marion, Fort, Florida, 190-200 
Marion, General Francis, 199 
Marquette, Father, 131-132 
Massac, Fort, Illinois, 21, 141- 

146 
Matanzas Inlet, Florida, 192 
Menendez, Juan, de Aviles, 193 
Mercer, Fort, New Jersey, 175 
Mermet, Father, 142, 143 
Metropolis, Illinois, 141 
Michillimackinac, Michigan, 

131-140 
Mifflin, Fort, Pa., 173-179 
Monitor and Merrimac, seen 

from Fort Monroe, 240 
Monroe., Fort, Virginia, 232-240 
Montcalm, Marquis de, 57, 59, 

60, 62, 69, 127, 128 
Montgomery, Fort, Alabama, 

212 
Montgomery, Fort, New York, 

148, 149 
Montgomery, Richard, 82, 83 
Montmagny, Governor of Can- 
ada, 76 
Monts, Sieur de, discovers An- 
napolis basin, 82 
Morgan, Fort, Alabama, 257, 

262 
Morro Castle, Cuba, 201-206 
Moultrie, Fort, South Carolina, 
200, 241-250 

New London, Conn., 167 et 

seq. 
Newport, R. L, Forts at, 222- 

231 



307 



INDEX 



Newport Artillery Co., 222 
Niagara, Fort, New York, 113- 

121 
Nonsense, Fort, 170 

Ontario, Fort, New York, 122- 

130 
Ordre de la Bon Temps, 86 
Osceola, Monument at Fort 

Moultrie, 244 
Oswego, New York, 122, 130 

Pell, S. H. P., of New York, 

restores Ticonderoga, 65 
Pell, William F., of New York, 

acquires Ticonderoga, 65 
Pemaquid, Maine, 105, 106, 111 
Pensacola, Florida, Fort at, 

207-214 
Pentagoet, or Castine, 103, 105, 

107 
Peoria, Illinois, 24 
Pepperell, William, of Kittery, 
Maine, chosen to head ex- 
pedition, 5; home still stand- 
ing, 5, 30, 125 
Phil Kearney, Fort, 285 et seq. 
Philadelphia, Fort at, 173-179 
Phips, Sir William, 29, 78, 79, 

90, 108, 109 
Pickens, Fort, Florida, 213 
Pike, Lieutenant C. M., secures 
Fort Snelling reservation, 269 
Pipon, Captain John, 29 
Pitt, Fort, Block-house at 

Pittsburgh, 17 
Plains of Abraham, 81 
Port Henry, New York, 68 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 

Fort at, 161-166 
Potrincourt, Baron, founds An- 
napolis Royal, 84, 85, 87 



Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., 

215-221 
Presque Isle, a memorial of, 20 
Principe Castle, Havana, 206 
Pulaski, Fort, Georgia, 251-256 
Putnam, Fort, 152 
Putnam. General Israel, 148, 

151 

Quebec, 49, 51, 62; Historic 
Forts at, 72-83 

Redstone Old Fort, 21 
Renault, Phillippe Francois de, 

introduces negro slavery to 

Illinois, 11 
Revere, Lieutenant Colonel 

Paul, 33, 100, 163 
Ribaut, Jean, 192 
Richelieu Cardinal, 73 
Robinson, Col. Beverly, 156 
Roxbury, Mass., 32 

St. Augustine, Florida, Fort at, 

190-200 
St. Clair, General Arthur, 64 
St. Denis, Juchereau de, 141, 

142, 143 
St. Frederic, Fort, New York, 

67, 68, 69, 70 
St. Louis, Fort, 14 
St. Paul, Minn., foundation, 272 
St. Philip, Fort, Louisana, 263- 

267 
Sam Houston, Fort, Texas, 279- 

284 
Samoset sells land at Pema- 
quid, 106 
San Antonio, Texas, Forts at, 

284-289 
San Carlos, Fort, Florida, 207- 

214 
Sandusky, Ohio, 21 



308 



INDEX 



San Francisco, Cal., Presidio at, 
215-221 

San Marco, Fort, 197, 198 

Scott, Fort Winfield, San Fran- 
cisco, 220 

Screven, Fort, Georgia, 254 

Shippen, Margaret, 157-158 

Shirley, William Governor of 
Mass., organizes expedition 
against Louisburg, 3; his list 
of instructions, 6; 53, 116, 125 

Smith, Capt. John, sees Hamp- 
ton Roads, 236 

Snelling, Fort, Minn., 268-272 

Stanwix, Fort, 129 

Star Spangled Banner, 188 

Starved Rock, 111., 14 

Stony Point, New York, 158- 
160 

Sumter, Fort, South Carolina, 
241-250 

Ticonderoga, New York, 49-65, 

147 
Tracy, Uriah, 137 
Travis Col. William B., of the 

Alamo, 280 
Trumbull, Fort, Conn., 167-172 
Turnbull, Col. John, 33 

Valesca, Luis de, his settlement 

at Pensacola Bay, 207 
Valley Forge, 179 
Vancouver, Fort, Washington, 

290-294 
Van Twiller, Wouter, or Walter, 

Governor of New Amsterdam, 

37,38 
Vauban, 1, 56, 79 
Vaudreuil, last Governor of New 

France, 81 



Vaughan, William, of Damaris- 
cotta, suggests attack on 
Louisburg, 2; his career, 3; 
captures grand battery, 8, 9 

Venango, 21 

Vicksburg, Miss., 301 

Vincennes, Ind., 12 

Wadsworth, Peleg, 100, 102 
Walker, Admiral Sir Hovenden, 

81 
Warren, Fort, 35 
Washington, Fort, Valley Forge, 

Pa., 300 
Washington, Fort, Cincinnati, 

Ohio, 24 
Washington, George, 18, 32, 33, 

129, 155, 157, 168, 176, 226, 

228 
Waterford, Pa., 20 
Wayne, "Mad" Anthony, 145, 

159 
Wentworth, Sir John, Governor 

of New Hampshire, 162 
West Point, New York, 147-160 
White Hall, New York, 55 
Wilkinson, James, 145 
William Henry, Fort, Mass., 

109, 110 
William and Mary, Fort, New 

Hampshire, 161-166 
William Henry, Fort, New York, 

54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 119 
Winthrop, Fort, Boston, 26 
Winthrop, Governor of Mass., 

27, 34 
Wolcott, Fort, Torpedo Station, 

231 
Wolfe, captures, Quebec, 81 

Yorktown, Va., 64 

Yuma, Fort, Cal., 295-298 



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